In his first public comments since the end of the legislative session last week, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Mayor Bill de Blasio was lucky to get even a one-year extension of mayoral control of city schools. Zack Fink filed the following report.
Holding public events for the first time since lawmakers went home for the year, Governor Cuomo weighed in on the final result in the fight for mayoral control of city schools, with Mayor Bill de Blasio only getting a one-year extension of his powers.
The extension, which comes with strings attached, was widely viewed as an insult to the mayor, who is locked in a feud with Senate Republicans and Cuomo. De Blasio had once asked for a permanent extension of mayoral control, and this week, he told Politico that a one-year extension is "unfair" to the city's children.
"I think the mayor, frankly, is lucky that he got it extended at all. Because there was a very strong sentiment just not to extend it. Again, that was in both houses," Cuomo said.
Cuomo publicly backed a three-year extension of mayoral control, and the Assembly voted for three years as well. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, de Blasio's predecessor, got an initial seven years of control, then a six-year renewal. De Blasio has received just one-year renewals over the last two sessions.
"This was not in the Old Testament, right. This was a relatively new experiment. And it's a controversial experiment, and there's mixed opinion," Cuomo said.
Critics say the legislative session failed to adequately address Albany corruption. In just the last year and a half, the leaders of both houses were convicted of federal corruption. Reformers say outside income of lawmakers should have been limited, and the Limited Liability Company, or LLC, Loophole, which allows companies to give virtually unlimited donations, should have been closed.
Over the weekend, Cuomo told the New York Times he believes it was the most successful legislative session in modern history. On Wednesday, he somewhat tempered that assessment.
"The session was highly, highly productive on a number of levels. And unless you are blinded and myopic about the LLC loophole and outside income, this state passed $15 minimum wage," he said.