Mayor Bill de Blasio, in candid and searing words rarely employed by elected officials of his stature, accused Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Tuesday of stymieing New York City’s legislative goals out of personal pettiness, “game-playing” and a desire for “revenge.”
In an extraordinary interview, Mr. de Blasio, appearing to unburden himself of months’ worth of frustrations, said that Mr. Cuomo — who, like the mayor, is a Democrat — “did not act in the interests” of New Yorkers by blocking measures like reforming rent laws and the mayor’s long-term ability to control the city’s public schools.
“I started a year and a half ago with a hope of a very strong partnership,” Mr. de Blasio said of the governor, whom he has known for two decades. “I have been disappointed at every turn.”
Mr. Cuomo, the mayor said, had acted vindictively toward the city, citing cuts in state financing for public housing and what he called an abrupt ramp-up of state inspections of city homeless shelters “with a vigor we had never seen before.”
“That was clearly politically motivated,” Mr. de Blasio said, “and that was revenge for some perceived slight.”
The mayor added: “It’s not about policy. It’s not about substance. It’s certainly not about the millions of people affected.”
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There is a long history of bitterness between mayors and governors of New York, even those from the same party. But Mr. de Blasio, speaking calmly and deliberatively, indicated that his relationship with the governor had deteriorated to a historic low.
The mayor summoned journalists to his City Hall office for a pair of interviews on Tuesday afternoon, only hours before he was to leave New York for a weeklong family vacation to the Southwest. He said he had finally run out of patience with Mr. Cuomo, who has been widely viewed as being an obstacle to the mayor’s agenda since Mr. de Blasio took office in 2014.
“We will not play these games,” Mr. de Blasio said, adding that Mr. Cuomo’s behavior was “not anything like acceptable government practice, and I think people all over the state are coming to the same conclusion.”
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Some mayoral aides suggested that Mr. de Blasio might be able to convince city liberals and Democrats that Mr. Cuomo was no longer representing their interests, threatening the support for a governor who was defeated outside New York City in last year’s campaign.
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“I’m not going to be surprised if these statements lead to some attempts at revenge,” Mr. de Blasio said, his voice even. “And we’ll just call them right out. Because we are just not going to play that way.”
If the 5 boroughs sit on their hands in the next gubernatorial election, Andrew Cuomo loses.
In fact, there is a reasonable chance that if New York City works against him, he loses the primary.
After all, running as “inevitable” in 2014, Zephyr Teachout, who had next to no money, and started late, got 34% of the vote against a Democratic Party apparatus that was uniformly against her.
He is widely loathed by the party base, and he returns the feelings.
It’s also clear that he is still a person of interest in federal investigations of corruption in Albany.
I do not think that Cuomo gets it, but stick a fork in him. he’s done.
Disclaimer: It is possible that I am projecting my own feelings into this matter.