Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Mayor Adams hires Bronx election lawyer to review signatures supporting independent run
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Sep 6, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Sep 6, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign has revealed who will review the validity of nearly 50,000 signatures that helped him get on the ballot as an independent: a Bronx Democratic powerbroker once sued for allegedly forging signatures.
The campaign’s decision to retain attorney Stanley Schlein comes after a Gothamist investigation found dozens of people who said they were tricked into signing Adams’ petitions or that their signatures had been forged. At least three signatures were from dead people.
Adams campaign attorney Vito Pitta said Schlein will investigate and then submit a report to Adams’ campaign.
“Mr. Schlein has extensive experience in ballot-access issues, and we have full confidence in his approach to this review,” Pitta said.
Schlein is starting his work as Adams faces widespread speculation he might drop his longshot re-election effort and accept a job in President Donald Trump’s administration. On Friday, Adams vowed to stay in the race.
Under state law, Adams needed to submit at least 7,500 signatures from voters who wanted him on the general election ballot as an independent. The tactic enabled the incumbent mayor to avoid a crowded Democratic primary race that was shaping up as a referendum on the federal corruption charges he once faced and his growing ties to Trump.
In response to Gothamist’s findings, Adams said bogus signatures were “part of the business” of politics. He nonetheless launched a review of the signatures that he used to secure the “Safe&Affordable” and “EndAntiSemitism” ballot lines, the latter of which will appear in small print below Adams’ name on voters’ ballots.
By hiring Schlein, Adams is turning to a ballot access expert with ties to the Bronx Democratic political machine. In 2016, five candidates filed a lawsuit against Schlein accusing him of trying to control the Bronx Democratic county committee by submitting fraudulent petitions with hundreds of forged signatures. The county committee is an obscure body made up of hundreds of members who play a role in nominating candidates for all elected offices, including judicial, legislative and executive seats.
The suit alleged that Schlein and his allies collected signatures on petitions and then added names of candidates for county committee to the documents afterwards. Those county committee candidates included people who had long moved out of the Bronx or were dead, according to the complaint, creating seats that could be controlled by the Bronx Democratic County Committee. The suit described Schlein as the “linchpin” in the scheme.
Schlein denied wrongdoing in the case, arguing the plaintiffs misunderstood state election law and were attempting to “maliciously impugn (his) integrity.”
Michael Blake, a former mayoral candidate and state assemblymember from the Bronx, was among the many politicians who have tangled with Schlein over the validity of signatures used to get on the ballot.
“It is hard [for Adams] to build credibility and trust when you have someone who has, unfortunately, multiple times taken steps to try to block people from the ballot,” Blake said.
Mayor Adams said forged signatures on petitions were "part of the business."
Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office
He said Schlein is among a small set of attorneys who use the state’s byzantine ballot access laws to protect clients in the political establishment.
'The Dark Prince of Bronx politics'
Schlein, 77, has been mixing it up in city politics since the 1980s. A rival once declared him “a kingmaker, a judgemaker,” and New York magazine included him on a list of “The Most Powerful New Yorkers You Have Never Heard Of” calling him “the dark prince of Bronx politics.” He’s currently on a $10,000 monthly retainer with Bally’s, which is lobbying city and state lawmakers to build a new casino in the Bronx.
He is also a registered lobbyist for Major League Baseball, the New York Yankees, Fort Orange Press, which prints absentee ballots for the New York City Board of Elections, and Dominion Voting Systems, which supplies voting machines to New York state.
“I’ve been retained by the Adams campaign to do an analysis of their recently filed independent nominating petitions to ascertain the validity of those signatories and I will issue a report to the campaign,” Schlein told Gothamist.
Schlein did not respond to follow-up requests for comment about the 2016 case or any questions about his current lobbying work. He did not respond to questions about how he would verify the signatures. Gothamist spent more than two weeks knocking on more than 200 doors to find the fraudulent signatures; a thorough review would likely require dozens of people and hundreds of hours of door-to-door work.
Schlein has overseen the petition review and submission process for Bronx Democratic candidates for decades. He holds such a tight grip on the process that candidates who hire other attorneys are not allowed in the back room at the Bronx Democratic Party headquarters to review how the party finalizes petitions before filing them with the Board of Elections, according to affidavits submitted in connection with the 2016 case.
Blake and his campaign staff were physically blocked from entering the headquarters to review the final steps of the petition process in retaliation for hiring election attorney Sarah Steiner instead of Schlein, according to an affidavit Steiner filed in the suit.
Some of those petitions for Blake were then “unlawfully altered,” she said.
“ It's the absolute epitome of why people hate politics because they feel like things are happening in back rooms,” Blake said. “The actual back room happened against us.”
The 2016 case against Schlein was dismissed just over a year after it was filed when the plaintiff’s lawyer, Donald Dunn Jr., stopped responding to requests from the court. Dunn filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and was disbarred two years later. He could not be reached for comment.
As one of a handful of attorneys in New York City who specialize in this type of election law, Steiner gave a carefully worded response when asked about the Adams campaign’s decision to hire Schlein.
“ Stanley Schlein is an extremely experienced election lawyer who has probably seen just about everything that there is to see. He is in no way a poor choice to do this,” Steiner said.
Tagged
Politics
new york city
Brigid Bergin
Brigid Bergin is an award-winning senior reporter on the People and Power desk. She is fiercely committed to telling stories that help people engage and support democracy. In 2022, she hosted a live, ten-week call-in politics show ahead of the midterm elections called The People's Guide to Power. Brigid's reporting in 2017 included some of the first coverage of a political newcomer now known as AOC. In 2016, she broke the news of a voter purge in Brooklyn just days before New York’s presidential primary, triggering city, state and federal investigations. Brigid also guest hosts The Brian Lehrer Show and All Of It. She graduated from the University at Albany and the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-723-4719.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Staten Island fire injures 2, but spares historic 'Godfather' church
Dozens of firefighters responded to the blaze, which started in a vacant warehouse. It was contained within three hours.
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Oct 18, 2026 at 10:34 a.m. ET
Bail reform remains major issue in NY governor's race, 7 years after it became law
Repeat offenders are a big talking point in the governor's race.
By
Gino Fanelli
News
Bail reform remains major issue in NY governor's race, 7 years after it became law
Repeat offenders are a big talking point in the governor's race.
By
Gino Fanelli
NYPD searching for 'person of interest' in fatal Midtown subway platform shooting
By
Ryan Kost
and
Elizabeth Kim
Have you seen this Yorkie? NYPD looking for adorable pup dognapped from her Queens home
By
Ryan Kost
Being reigning champions is weird for Knicks fans, but we could get used to this.
By
Catalina Gonella
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .