NEW YORK — Earlier this month former Senator Al D’Amato suggested Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo sit down over a pasta dinner to smooth over their war of words.
Thursday de Blasio responded, “I appreciate Senator D’Amato’s offer. Personally, I am trying to lose weight, so I’m staying away from pasta.”
Asked to name a single achievement by Bill de Blasio as mayor, Governor Cuomo politely declined during an interview on the PIX11 Morning News Thursday.
After de Blasio publicly blasted him following the last legislative session, both constituents and the media have been monitoring what appears to be a growing, uncomfortable rift between the two.
PIX11 anchor Sukanya Krishnan asked Cuomo Thursday morning, “What do you think he’s (de Blasio) done well for the city?”
For someone wanting to mend a relationship, that would have been a great opportunity to toss the mayor a complement on something, anything.
Cuomo, however, sidestepped the question, saying, “You know that’s not for me to comment, we get elected, we run in elections, you know, and people decide if they want to rehire us or not . . . so it’s up to them.”
“My father was governor, Ed Koch was mayor, two people with more divergent styles you could not find,” Cuomo said. “My father believed in dignity in office, in a comportment, he was never personal or vitriolic.”
de Blasio publicly accused the governor of essentially sabotaging his proposals for New York City at last week’s legislative session in Albany, saying that Cuomo had disappointed him “at every turn” and the governor maintains a “vendetta” against anyone who goes against him.
Cuomo responded, saying the mayor was “obviously frustrated” and suggested that he learn how to compromise. He also criticized de Blasio for airing his frustrations publicly.
On Thursday, Cuomo celebrated the same legislative session that left de Blasio fuming, saying, “There was more money for education than ever before, more money for affordable housing . . . we did a great rent-reform bill. I am a governor who represents New York City as well as the rest of the state, so New York City’s going to do great.”
Who, exactly, is ensuring that the city will “do great,” Cuomo refused to specify, saying only “I’m not going to engage in any back-and-forth, any name calling. I’m not going to go there.”
Krishnan pushed the governor once more about his relationship with the mayor, saying, “Listen I grew up in an Italian neighborhood, can we have, like, a Sunday dinner and I can put you two together and we can have a conversation?”
No dinner plans were made, but Cuomo’s response was telling: “You grew up Italian, what we say inside the house is one thing, what we say outside the house is another.”
