Ingrid Lewis-Martin, a longtime confidante to Mayor Adams who serves as his chief adviser in City Hall, has been slapped with a $1,000 fine for using her position to financially benefit an aide who owed her money in violation of government ethics law.
Lewis-Martin issued the $2,500 loan in question in 2014 to Dawn Baskerville, a friend who was a year later hired as her special assistant in Brooklyn Borough Hall while she served as then-Borough President Adams’ deputy.
The Daily News first reported this past July that the loan could present an ethical dilemma, as it remained outstanding even though Lewis-Martin had since given Baskerville multiple promotions, including hiring her for a much more lucrative job in Adams’ mayoral administration. At the time, City Hall spokesman Fabien Levy said it was “disappointing” that The News highlighted Lewis-Martin’s “kind act” even though it had “zero repercussions for the public.”
But on Thursday, the city Conflicts of Interest Board announced it had fined Lewis-Martin $1,000 because her actions constituted a “misuse” of her government power.
The City Charter bars municipal officials from using their positions to obtain private “financial gain” for themselves or associates — and the board determined that Lewis-Martin did just that by giving Baskerville several promotions that came with higher salaries while she was at the same time in debt to her.
Most recently, Baskerville was appointed in April 2022 as Adams’ director of correspondence — a job that came with a 39% wage bump as compared to the City Hall special assistant job Lewis-Martin brought her on for on Jan. 1, 2022, the board concluded in a settlement agreement with the chief adviser.
“I acknowledge that, by supervising and taking official acts to benefit a person with whom I had a financial relationship, I used my City position to benefit a person with whom I was associated in violation of the City Charter,” Lewis-Martin stated in the settlement, in which she also committed to paying the fine.
In a statement to The News on Thursday afternoon, Lewis-Martin struck a more defiant tone, saying she was “proud” to loan Baskerville the money “in a moment of need.”
“I acknowledge that there were omissions in my paperwork, that I will correct in the future. But when one makes an error and brings the error to light, that should mean something, as opposed to one intentionally doing something wrong,” Lewis-Martin said. “That didn’t happen in this case, and to not take intent into account is unfair. The small loan never had any impact on either of our professional lives and, as an ordained chaplain, I will continue to always look out for my friends, family and community.”
In the settlement, Lewis-Martin said she formally forgave the loan to Baskerville on Nov. 16, 2022 — a fact that the Conflicts of Interest Board said it considered before reprimanding her.
Still, the board said in a statement that it was appropriate to fine Lewis-Martin because “the chief advisor is a high-level public servant who should be held to a high standard of compliance with the conflicts of interest law.”
The precise purpose of the loan was not made clear by the settlement agreement. In July, Levy said Lewis-Martin issued the loan to help out an “old friend” who was in a “difficult financial position.”
