For most law-abiding citizens, a bag of chips is nothing more than the home to a salty little snack. But much like how “tried to slip money to a journalist in a bag of Herr’s sour cream and onion chips. Inventive!
The New York–focused metro-news outlet The City reported that Greco contacted its reporter Katie Honan after a campaign event, asking to meet her in a nearby Whole Foods. When Honan showed up to the grocery store, Greco reportedly handed her an open bag of Herr’s with the top folded. Under the impression that Greco was trying to feed her, Honan said she could not accept the snack. Greco insisted, and Honan took the chips and left. When she opened the bag shortly afterward on her way to the subway, she discovered Greco had slipped her a red envelope stuffed with a $100 bill and several $20 bills. (The exact amount wasn’t counted.)
When Honan contacted Greco to return the cash and bag of chips, the former adviser told her she was no longer in the area. Interviewed later that day by The City, Greco portrayed the whole debacle as a misunderstanding. “I’m so sorry. It’s a culture thing. I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t understand. I’m so sorry. I feel so bad right now.” Greco then begged the outlet to “forget about this,” adding she was just trying “to be a good person.”
“I just wanted to be her friend,” Greco added. “I just wanted to have one good friend. It’s nothing.”
Greco stopped responding to The City’s calls after their initial phone conversations, but her attorney Steven Brill eventually issued a statement. “I can see how this looks strange, but I assure you that Winnie’s intent was purely innocent,” Brill said. “In the Chinese culture, money is often given to others in a gesture of friendship and gratitude. Winnie is apologetic and embarrassed by any negative impression or confusion this may have caused.” When pressed on why Greco would want to give Honan a stack of bills, Brill said, “She knows the reporter and is fond of her.”
Honan had previously resigned as Adams’s director of Asian affairs last year, Greco has stayed on as a volunteer adviser, accompanying Adams on multiple trips abroad to China. The mayor’s close ally and former chief adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin has also publicly referred to Greco as “my sister.”
Greco may have believed her now-infamous bag of sour cream and onion chips was a friendly gesture. But the Adams campaign is trying to stay as far away from this as possible, suspending Greco from her volunteer position in the aftermath of chipgate, per the New York Times. “We are shocked by these reports,” Adams campaign aide Todd Shapiro said. “Mayor Adams had no prior knowledge of this matter. He has always demanded the highest ethical and legal standards, and his sole focus remains on serving the people of New York City with integrity.”
Ah, yes, Mayor Adams: a man of utmost integrity who once sexually assaulting a colleague (he has denied these allegations). It makes some degree of loopy sense that one of his toadies might think, What’s some cash and chips shared between friends?
Rather than the idea that Eric Adams is mired in another money-related controversy, the slightly offensive amount of bribe money is the most surprising part of this story (except maybe the Herr’s bag). Greco thought that Honan, one of the top metro journalists in New York, would accept $160 (again, a ballpark) to abandon her ethical duty? We really are in a recession, aren’t we?
Correction: A previous version of this incorrectly attributed quotes Winnie Greco gave to The City.