With about a week left until Gov. Andrew Cuomo officially resigns from office, Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke frankly about his tumultuous relationship with the scandal-plagued governor, saying his leadership style “unquestionably” harmed New Yorkers throughout the pandemic.
“I will never forget, at a moment of the biggest crisis in our history as a city, and I looked at what was happening, a very good example set by San Francisco, I talked to experts and I said, ‘We have to prepare to move to shelter in place in New York City,’” de Blasio told NY1 political reporter Bobby Cuza on Inside City Hall's "Mondays with the Mayor" segment. “And rather than the governor saying, ‘Hey, you know what, that’s an idea that we need to look at right away, act on right away,’ he attacked it, and said that would be ‘imprisoning’ New Yorkers.”
De Blasio argued that Cuomo wouldn’t “even entertain the idea because it came from someone else,” calling him “tragically immature, on top of everything else,” while saying that Cuomo’s decision to finally embrace a shelter in place order days later cost New Yorkers dearly.
Over the weekend, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is next in line for the governorship, made news when she announced her successor will hail from New York City. The mayor declined to weigh in on who Hochul should consider for the position, though he did say that the decision to pick a New York City lawmaker “certainly makes sense.”
“We got a lot to do,” de Blasio added. “And I certainly believe that Kathy Hochul and I can talk like reasonable people and get things done to help New Yorkers. I think it’s going to be refreshing.”
After facing public backlash, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie announced Monday morning that the Assembly impeachment team looking into Cuomo would now be issuing a public report on evidence collected over the last five months. De Blasio said the release of that information is important because Cuomo and others in his administration need to be held responsible.
“The findings are so important, Bobby. We need accountability,” de Blasio said. “It’s not just Gov. Cuomo, remember. It’s a whole host of other people around him who, in some cases, might have broken the law and in other cases did things that were very, very damaging for political reasons. We need a full accounting.”
When asked whether or not he is considering a potential run for governor in 2022, de Blasio once again demurred, though he did not rule the option out.
On the subject of Cuomo’s next permanent address and whether the governor should consider moving back to New York City, de Blasio, smiling, said he will decline to offer an opinion, save that he should move on with his life and does not belong in government.
