New York Mayor unloads injured Cuomo

NEW YORK – Call it revenge.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is defending Governor Andrew Cuomo at every opportunity, taking advantage of the governor’s misfortunes as crises pile up for his longtime rival and Democratic colleague.

De Blasio called Cuomo’s alleged behavior “grotesque”, “perverse” and “terrifying”, saying on Tuesday that he should step down if allegations of sexual harassment by several women are proven.

“If these allegations are true, he cannot rule,” the mayor told reporters.

There has been no lost love between the two top New York executives for years, with a latent rivalry. dating from 2015 while the mayor was transforming himself into a progressive national leader and the governor plummeting in the polls.

But de Blasio – aware of Cuomo’s power over city affairs and his willingness to use it to punish his enemies – is generally careful to coat his criticisms with a veneer of civility.

Now, with Cuomo looking vulnerable amid two scandals involving accusations of sexual harassment and deaths in Covid-19 nursing homes, de Blasio is telling the world what he really thinks.

There is more at stake for de Blasio than the chance to brag about the potential downfall of an enemy that has plagued him for years. He is pressing the state legislature to withdraw the emergency powers that Cuomo was granted at the start of the pandemic, which took away the city’s control over everything from the distribution of vaccines to the closing and reopening of in-house restaurants.

And the mayor may be considering running for governor. When asked in the past few days about his future, he said he would like to continue working in a public office and did not rule out a candidacy for governor.

“The people of the state of New York will look at everything and make their judgments in due course,” de Blasio said last week. “I have not yet made plans for the next steps. At some point I will resolve this. ”

The mayor has been raising money again through two political action committees that he used to finance his ill-fated presidential race. Five longtime donors – Dennis and Karen Mehiel, Olga and George Tsunis and Jack Rosen – donated a total of $ 17,500 to the state NY Fairness PAC in December, the records show. A month later, the Mason Tenders District Council and 32BJ SEIU, two politically active union groups, also contributed $ 5,000 each to de Blasio’s state committee. The Mehiels and Rosen also donated $ 15,000 to the federal Fairness PAC.

A member of the mayor’s staff said that the committees are raising money to pay tens of thousands of dollars that they still owe and that the recent contributions have nothing to do with the governor.

In the meantime, the allegations of sexual harassment against Cuomo – and before that the scandal of the deaths of asylum residents – gave De Blasio all the material he needs to become a constant presence on cable TV news.

“If [an investigation] proves that these claims are true, how can anyone lead a state if they have already done these kinds of things? ”De Blasio told Jake Tapper of CNN on Monday.

Three women, including two former employees, publicly accused Cuomo of inappropriate behavior. One of her accusers, Lindsey Boylan, says he kissed her without her consent. Meanwhile, federal prosecutors are investigating how Cuomo is dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic in nursing homes, after the state for months has not registered thousands of deaths.

The double scandals drew attention to Cuomo’s history of aggressive behavior and threats, which de Blasio says he experienced firsthand.

“I worked with many political leaders. I talk to Chuck Schumer all the time. I spoke to Nancy Pelosi. I make an entire list. I’ve worked with US presidents, ”said de Blasio on Monday night at NY1’s Inside City Hall. “Nobody does that.”

On Tuesday, he said again that the governor should resign if the allegations are confirmed and pressured again for the return of local control.

“If you put too much power in someone’s hands, bad things happen. We need local control back, ”said de Blasio at a news conference on Tuesday.

Cuomo’s grip has led to repeated clashes throughout the Covid-19 crisis. When de Blasio first called for a stoppage in New York City due to the invasion of the disease, Cuomo immediately dropped the idea. Later, the researchers found that an earlier closure could have saved thousands of lives.

Cuomo also dejected De Blasio’s announcement that the city’s schools would remain closed for the rest of the past school year, only to be finally canceled. And the governor’s administration initially discredited From the city hall advice that New Yorkers should wear masks, that the city had no authority to issue a mandate.

But the two clashed over a number of pre-pandemic issues, including state funding, the MTA and tax the rich.

With Cuomo’s pandemic emergency powers dramatically expanded, de Blasio’s independence from Albany was further reduced.

“The state legislature must immediately revoke the governor’s emergency powers that cancel local control”, de Blasio said in a statement on Sunday, as he called for two separate independent investigations into allegations of sexual harassment and nursing home.

After a former aide, Charlotte Bennett, told the New York Times the governor asked questions about his sex life and said he was open to relationships with younger women, Cuomo admitted “being playful” and teasing employees about their personal lives in a way that could be interpreted as unwanted flirting. “To the extent that someone felt that way, I’m really sorry about that,” he said.

De Blasio was quick to reject the governor’s attempt at a mea culpa.

“This is not an apology,” he said on Monday. “He seemed to be saying, ‘Oh, I was just kidding.’ You know, sexual harassment is not funny. Really. It has to be taken seriously. “

In daily press conferences that continued even as Cuomo withdrew behind closed doors For more than a week and counting, as well as in several appearances on national TV, de Blasio has been equally severe in the way Cuomo deals with the crisis of the nursing home.

About 15,000 residents of New York nursing homes and health care facilities died of the virus – figures that were released only after State Attorney General Tish James released an investigation that found the state accounted for less than 50% of deaths from nurses, for not including people who died in hospitals.

Cuomo’s top aide told lawmakers that the government “froze” and did not hand over the data for fear that it would be used against them by the Trump administration, generating further furor. It is not yet clear to what extent Cuomo’s policy requiring health care facilities to admit patients with positive Covid contributed to the death toll.

“Thousands of lives lost. We still don’t know why. We still don’t know how much of the truth has been covered up. We still don’t know how much it may have been because of the influence of the campaign contributions from the nursing home industry, a very powerful industry. There is a lot that needs to be discovered here, ”said de Blasio, who has faced several charges of doing favors for campaign donors, said Monday on CNN.

“I don’t see how anyone can function as a governor and have the trust and respect of the people, if they purposely covered up the deaths of thousands of our elderly, our elderly, family members, dear family members who have disappeared,” he added.

Joe Anuta and Amanda Eisenberg contributed to this report.