Gov. Andrew Cuomo predicted he would have a “better” relationship with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s successor “by definition” after the incumbent departs office.
He made the comments one day after the primary election. A winner has not been determined in the Big Apple, but Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is considered to be in the lead.
“I think, in general, electing a new mayor is very, very positive for the city,” Cuomo said on Wednesday. “We’re trying to get this city back up and running. Confidence in the mayor is very, very important … and the competence of the mayor is very, very important, and I think with a new mayor, you’re going to see both an increase in the confidence in leadership and [an] increase in the competence of the management of New York City, and I think that is going to be a major, major plus.”
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Cuomo praised Adams, saying he “like[d] him very much” and called him a “competent, confident individual” in direct contrast to de Blasio’s administration, which he termed “hyper-political” and “not competent.”
“We need to get things done. We need results. And I need a competent partner in local government,” he added.
Despite their differences, de Blasio also offered praise to Adams on Wednesday.
“I feel satisfied [with the results of the election so far],” he said. “But we really need to recognize, and I want to absolutely give Eric Adams real respect for a very strong showing, but we also have to recognize there’s a lot more to play out with a system we’ve never gone through before, and we have to see the whole process play out.”
De Blasio praised Adams’s “outer borough focused, working-class focused strategy,” likening it to his own successful 2013 mayoral bid, saying the strategy “appears to have worked” for him.
Although New York City’s ranked-choice Democratic primary results may not be known for weeks, Adams has taken a substantial lead in the early returns and is viewed as the front-runner for the nomination.
Despite their status as two of the most powerful leaders in New York, Cuomo and de Blasio have had an icy relationship for years. In light of recent sexual harassment allegations by 10 women against Cuomo, de Blasio called on the governor to resign.
“It’s deeply troubling,” de Blasio said during a press briefing last month. “The specific allegation that the governor called an employee of his, someone who he had power over, called them to a private place and then sexually assaulted her is absolutely unacceptable to me.”
“It is disgusting to me, and he can no longer serve as governor,” he continued.
Cuomo has frequently denied the allegations of inappropriate touching, though he did apologize for making any women feel uncomfortable.
De Blasio invoked another scandal dogging Cuomo, accusing the governor of perpetuating a cover-up.
“Brianna, it’s almost to the point where we don’t even need the full formal investigation because everybody is admitting they covered up,” he told CNN’s Brianna Keilar of the controversy surrounding Cuomo’s book about his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. “This has been one after another piece of evidence that there was a full-fledged cover-up, that it was explicitly to help the governor sell his book. This was one of the motivating factors, a book that he used state employees to help write.”
On April 19, New York Attorney General Letitia James received a referral from the comptroller to conduct a criminal investigation into Cuomo’s use of state resources for his book, American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic, which is expected to bring in more than $5 million for the governor.
The referral followed a March 31 ethics complaint from liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington as it sought an inquiry into whether the Democratic governor violated a law prohibiting “the use of campaign funds for personal use,” arguing Cuomo’s reelection campaign “promoted sales of the book extensively on social media,” including at least four times on Facebook.
Cuomo insisted members of his staff volunteered to help with the book, but his office acknowledged there might be some “incidental” use of state resources, according to the New York Times.
The governor has also taken shots at de Blasio, swiping at the mayor in 2019 for being absent amid a citywide power outage in favor of campaigning for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in Iowa.
“Mayors are important. And situations like this come up, you know. And you have to be on-site … I think it’s important to be in a place where you can always respond, but look, everybody makes their own political judgment, and I’m not going to second-guess anyone either,” Cuomo said in July 2019.
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Despite mounting pressure from within his own party to resign, Cuomo, eligible for reelection in 2022, has refused to step down, denying allegations of wrongdoing.
De Blasio is term-limited, and if Adams wins the Democratic Party’s nomination, he will be well-positioned to succeed de Blasio in the Nov. 2 general election given New York City’s heavily Democratic tilt.
