We recently looked at the latest in what has become a disturbing trend in New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office that is now impossible to ignore. One of the Mayor’s close friends and political supporters somehow landed a position as a “senior adviser” to Hizzoner with a salary that’s the envy of far more experienced municipal officials. And that was far from the first time we’ve seen that happen during the relatively brief time that Adams has held the office. He has quite a few “senior advisers” that are living high on the hog on the taxpayer’s dime. But now the New York Post has uncovered another of these stories, though it would appear that some efforts were undertaken to make the scheme a bit less obvious. David Banks is the Schools Chancellor in Gotham and a long-time confidant of Adams. His girlfriend, Sheena Wright, recently landed a position as a Deputy Mayor in the city. And in what I’m sure was just a monumental coincidence, the Mayor’s girlfriend, Tracey Collins, was appointed as the senior adviser to the Deputy Chancellor of Schools under Banks at almost the same time. What are the odds?

Schools Chancellor David Banks quietly promoted Mayor Adams’ girlfriend to a top job at the Department of Education, just months after Adams hired Banks’ girlfriend as a deputy mayor, The Post has learned.

Banks named Tracey Collins — Adams’ longtime partner and NYC’s unofficial First Lady — the DOE’s “senior advisor to the deputy chancellor of school leadership,” Desmond Blackburn. She started the new job in July, and got a giant, 23% raise to $221,597 a year, records show.

Hizzoner named Banks’ girlfriend, Sheena Wright, and four other women deputy mayors last Dec. 21. Deputy mayors made $251,982 in FY 21.

One local teacher who was informed of this information responded by saying, “Banks’ girlfriend works for Adams, and Adams’ girlfriend works for Banks. I am sleeping with the wrong man.”

It’s good that she can have a sense of humor about it, but not everyone finds it funny. The amount of cronyism and nepotism (Adams’ brother has a job with the city now) is simply too much for everyone to continue turning a blind eye. This is a bad look for the Mayor and it’s not healthy for the city.

A spokesman for the Department of Education, Nathaniel Styer, attempted to cover over the unseemly appointment of the Mayor’s girlfriend by saying she was “the most qualified” for the position. But then he seemed to make matters worse by admitting that she was “the only finalist presented to the chancellor.”

So now the woman who was already being described as “the unofficial First Lady of New York” has a job paying more than $220K per year. Meanwhile, the girlfriend of one of Adams’ close confidants who also has a top job is hauling in more than a quarter million annually as a Deputy Mayor. A quick look down the roster shows that New York City now has more Deputy Mayors than the number of deputies required to bring in Billy the Kid. Of course, they are still outnumbered by all of the “senior advisers” that are taking up space in City Hall.

This is just Tammany Hall all over again. We get a new guy who comes riding in on a white horse promising to clean the city up, reduce crime rates, and bring back the tourist industry. But before he’s even finished hanging up the new sign on his office door, a parade of his friends, relatives, and political donors show up on the payroll with some of the best-paying jobs in the city. And the truly sad part about all of this is that they are doing it shamelessly right out in the open. They know nobody is going to stop them, so they are making sure that all of “the right people” are cashing in for as long as the gravy train keeps running.