For two years, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has shredded Mayor Bill de Blasio’s legislative agenda and imposed his own wishes on the city. De Blasio tried to rein in the free-wheeling charter sector, and Cuomo responded by expanding it and forcing the city to give free public space to charters or pay their rent in private space. This year, de Blasio sought permanent extension of mayoral control. He ended up with only one year.
Until today, de Blasio has faithfully supported Cuomo, despite the rebuffs and slights. He helped Cuomo get the nomination of the Working Families Party, which threatened to endorse Zephyr Teachout. He gave the premier nominating speech for Cuomo at the State Democratic convention, showing progressive support for a governor who has governed as a conservative.
Today, de Blasio finally let loose on Cuomo.
“Mayor Bill de Blasio, in candid and searing words rarely employed by elected officials of his stature, accused Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Tuesday of stymieing New York City’s legislative goals out of personal pettiness, “game-playing” and a desire for “revenge.”
“In an extraordinary interview, Mr. de Blasio, appearing to unburden himself of months’ worth of frustrations, said that Mr. Cuomo — who, like the mayor, is a Democrat — “did not act in the interests” of New Yorkers by blocking measures like reforming rent laws and allowing a long-term extension of the mayor’s ability to control the city’s public schools.
“I started a year and a half ago with a hope of a very strong partnership,” Mr. de Blasio said of the governor, whom he has known for two decades. “I have been disappointed at every turn. And these last couple of examples really are beyond the pale…..
“I’m not going to be surprised if these statements lead to some attempts at revenge,” Mr. de Blasio said, his voice even. “And we’ll just call them right out. Because we are just not going to play that way.”
Teachers know how vindictive and petty Cuomo can be. He fancies himself qualified to dictate how teachers should be evaluated, a subject about which he is totally uninformed.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
But I don’t want this mayor, or any mayor, to have total control over the schools system.
Hear, hear. Regardless of how it came to pass, a mere one-year extension was a great outcome for public school stakeholders in New York City.
Man, Cuomo and BDB, this seems like ages ago:
I agree with you, Michael Brocoum, BUT the reason Cuomo, and his Privatizer Buddies have (temporarily) lost enthusiasm for NYC Mayoral Control of schools is because they don’t like or trust de Blasio. Undoubtedly they’ll plan to dangle these one year extensions before him, letting him know that each one will come with lots of strings attached…
As if de Blasio was some kind of steadfast opponent of charters. (He approved 15 of 18 new applications in his first weeks as mayor and The Privatizer Billionaires and Wall Street STILL savagely attacked him as “anti black children”. It was vile.
However, if Eva Moskowitz the “Half Million A Year Principal/CEO” of a charter school was ever elected mayor—she announced almost 20 years ago that the Mayor’s office was her ultimate goal—Cuomo and his Privatizer Chums would transform Mayoral Control into some sort of permanent and sacred secular sacrament. Believe it.
I hear that Eva is already raising money for her 2017 mayoral run.
Moskowitz lost her reelection for the council. I doubt very much she would have any chance of winning an election for mayor.
Eva as mayor – will inauguration be scheduled for Hallowe’en?
Christine, THAT was funny!
Cuomo and DeBlasio: The FEUD!
Bring it on, Bill. You have nothing to lose at this point. You have gotten nowhere playing politician or Mr. Nice Guy. Get in touch with your Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and let loose on Cuomo.
It may change nothing for you or for him, or it may work against both of you in different ways, or maybe in favor of one or both of you. Who knows?
At the very least, Mr. DeBlasio, you’ll get things off your chest, and that will be a healthy start for yourself, in being honest about yourself and they way things are in NY. It will also serve as a model for other elected officials to show them that being polite and using dilpo-lingo and compromise are not the sole choices on the communication menu . . . . .
It’s great to see you finally man up, Mr. DeBlasio and politically punch bullying Andrew Cuomo in the face so hard that it will make him spit out his political teeth . . . . He deserves it.
If only our union leaders (NEA, AFT/UFT etc.) would do the same. Oops, I forgot they are on the take from the billionaire-boys-club.
Michael, agreed. I don’t believe the mayor should have total control of the schools, no checks or balances. Cuomo showed that the mayor’s control is limited by what Cuomo wants: more charters.
I know Bill as a Council Member from Brooklyn, who supported this teacher in Queens, who was fired while waiting for an air quality report in his school, while Randi kicked me to the curb. Bill was forced to to bring in Bloomberg’s Farina as Chancellor due to Clinton and Duncan and Obama. I still have high hopes for Bill.
So do I.
Me as well. There is still time.
It’s not that Bill is so great; it’s more like he’s not so horrible compared to his predecessors. He has enormous potential. I remain hopeful about him.
“…due to Clinton and Duncan and Obama.” I’m curious about this remark, but I don’t understand it. Could you possibly elaborate? (I’m not necessarily in disagreement here; I just truly would like more of an explanation how these national figures figured into the new mayor of NYC and his selection of his chancellor.
I’d appreciate you providing some more details, and maybe, ideally, some links? Thanks.
Does De Blasio have the inside scoop on something we are unaware of? Is it just Cuomo’s sinking pole numbers that embolden De Blasio, or is there something else going on?
I think you meant “poll”, but “Cuomo’s sinking pole” does paint quite a picture — and probably a pretty accurate one, too.
Cuomo seems to have lost his mojo and my guess is he won’t get it back.
…It was late, but you’re right, pole does fit in a picturesque kind of way.
I’m with you, Betsy. I bet he knows something.
Speaking of bullying and vindictive politicians, this is just brutal on Chris Christie.
They basically come right and call him a compulsive liar:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/01/opinion/gov-christies-phony-truth-telling.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
Chiara:
All the truth that’s fit to print?
😎
Invite the lion into your house and then act surprised when it tries to eat you for lunch. Then when other people have the lion under control, you roar at it like you’re a big man. Sorry, Mayor de B. Not impressed. De Blasio is like so many other “progressives” once they get into office. Sure, marginally better than their non-progressive counterparts, but generally vastly disappointing, and it’s hard to even tell if it’s incompetence or betrayal.
Cuomo accomplished nothing on his own. HIs father paved the way for him. That’s a recipe for disaster. If not for his father, Cuomo would be nothing.
But whose fault is that? It’s the fault of people people who vote for Bushes or Clintons or Kennedys or Cuomos simply because of their name.
People should read up on the Oedipus Complex. It might help them understand why sometimes a son just can’t keep from killing everything his father stood for.
Brilliant observation! Jon
Is it possible that Bill de Blasio is privy to some knowledge about Cuomo that emboldened him to get so aggressive. Could it be that Preet Bharara may have something on Cuomo? I’m praying to the gods (Christian, Muslim, ancient Greek, Hindu, etc.) that it is so!
Bharara has been closing in on Cuomo for a while now and Cuomo is really starting to behave like a cornered animal — paranoid, almost, and lashing out at anyone whom he perceives to be against him.
He is actually behaving quite irrationally even for his own good.
Since “feeding the beast” didn’t work, Blasio might as well call Cuomo out when he makes disastrous decisions. No sense in supporting an up and coming loser.
Its hard to tell where any politician really stands these days when money seens to drive policy, not common sense. Id like to see what Blasio could accomplish if he wasn’t backed into a corner and restrained by Cuomo and friends. Would it be more of the same or would we get some real leadership in the right direction?
Its probably a moot point, since Cuomo will come a-gunning for the mayor. Watch for the shoot out at 42nd street. Words will be flying fast and furious until nothing is left but a pile of money. The only question is whose pocket will carry the winnings?
I’m amazed at how much some of our alleged leaders are afraid of this creep, Cuomo.
It makes me wonder….what would happen if we were living in a country that had someone who was really trying to take over and be a dictator?
We’ve had demagogues and power hungry monster politicians in our nation’s past. But what makes things scary these days is all the technology that is potentially at that person or group’s disposal now. As one observer put it, we’ve created a turnkey potential for some person or group to really control us in ways that are truly authoritarian.
Somebody on this blog best described Cuomo as being a ‘mini-Nixon”. Yup…he’s a warm up for the types of sociopaths that could be a much larger part of our country’s future. Hopefully, the common citizens will get wise and take action. I know we can do it. I’m glad De Blasio has decided to lead.
DeBlasio is pulling the curtain back.
“I’m not a bad man, just a terribly bad wizard.”
In Cuomo’s case he is a terribly bad human and an even worse governor.
You have to watch the video of Morning Joe on msnbc to fully grasp just how clueless and stupid they really are. Joe was not the only idiot…..but great finish with mindless remarks about the unions putting the schools into the trash barrel…….
I just watched that too, but I am not so sure they are all as truly clueless as they play. For those who didn’t see it—Early this am on Morning Joe they share a clip from DeBlasio interview and act befuddled about why in the world DeBlasio would commit such political suicide. They say it is practically unprecedented. They talk about how crucial it is to work behind the scenes even if you don’t like how things sre going in a governor/mayor situation. Michael Steele mentions how you are likely to have zero budget allocated to your city’s interests when you don’t work WITH your governor. It is a round robin of “I don’t know’s.” Finally, Mike Barnacle murmurs something about the schools- mayoral control vs state control, and they discuss for a minute. Willie Geist mentions DeBlasio’s concerns include something about “housing as well.”
Joe then says this-
“On the education front, obviously Bill DeBlasio wants to give the teachers unions the keys to the door…of all the schools, he has been very clear about that, and just let them completely run it, I would say, completely run it into the ground. Whereas you have Cuomo, who, you know, we have shown pictures of him at rallies talking about the need for choice (someone else says charter), choice for poor parents about where to send their (kids to) school. It’s a battle but you don’t win those battles by doing what he did. I wonder if it’s just inexperience, arrogance, or what it is. I don’t know.”
I seethed all the way down here in Atlanta as I watched this unfold. They are pandering to the agenda, of course, this “Education Nation” of a network. They will not reveal the truth of the battles between DeBlasio and Cuomo because it doesn’t suit their corporate lords. Killing unions, debasing a predominantly female profession, monetizing children, privatizing schools for profit is their common cause. Disgusting. Thank goodness for Diane’s blog- where truth can be told.
Didn’t they all swoon for Chris Christie too?
He’s a terrible governor.
Why are media personalities credible on good government? They often show very poor judgment.
I think msnbc is in a category of its own….we expect mostly right wing stuff from fox news….cnn seems to want some sort of middle ground, often resulting in nothing much, and msnbc gets the automatic credit for being the progressive voice, with all the automatic dismissals of being taken seriously that goes with that….Maybe it does not even matter when Joe spews out garbage…..but his arrogant self-righteousness is kind of jarring.
Chiara…..as bad as Morning Joe was this morning….Rachel Maddow tore apart Christie about as effectively as I have ever heard him torn apart….using a lot of republican sources…….I liked the part where she reported his 2012 keynote speech for the gop convention…..which was took 17 minutes to mention Romney……was getting on late, and when they asked him to let them cut his 3 minute filmed biography…..he threatened that he was going to use the f word on national tv, and might not even do the keynote speech if they failed to run it……….Rachel was fun…..hope she was not making it all up…which is not her style.
Joe–I used to love Rachel Maddow. However, I had heard that she is great friends with Evita…oops, I mean Eva…Moskowitz. Anyone have the story here?
(BTW, as if we don’t have things going badly enough in Chicago & ILL-Annoy, the Chicago Tribune, for some reason, ran an article several weeks ago written by Eva (?), just dripping with charter love.
And why do we in Chicago need to hear what drivel pours from her pen-?)
&–for those who don’t know, interestingly enough, some $50 million was being pledged to Noble Charter Schools {while the criminally-connected-but-supposedly-taken-over UNO chain still received THEIR $98 million}–the Chicago headlines today scream that the city is borrowing $634 million to pay the Chgo PS Pension Fund, & thus “classroom cuts” HAVE to be made, + a 1,400 personnel lay-off announced.)
But lots of KA-CHING! for the bankers.
I lost all respect for Republican Joe when this came out.
http://gawker.com/remember-when-a-dead-intern-was-found-in-joe-scarboroug-1711985081
From the article:
“. . . rarely employed by elected officials of his stature. . . ”
OH, the “EXALTED STATURE”. All should bow down before these almighty politicians. They must descended from the monarchists of England and France. SCREW THEM AND THEIR EFFIN “STATURE”. The eat, drink, urinate, defecate and sleep just like the peons, and they’ll be dead like all the rest eventually.
They not the eat. . .
retiredbutmissthekids ……thanks for the information…..i am not a super fan of rachel….It is all I can do to fight the battles over how Missouri reports education……I see the stories come and go about Illinois…..I will have to take a closer look at what you are talking about. I will say, regarding christie……it was fun listening to her……she was relying on a book by dan Balz….she went on for 20 minutes……..emphasizing the grudge of Romney and his people……feeding every negative thing they could to the press…….after the election defeat…….as much fun as it was to watch…..I think it was not a difficult task…
actually….I did post what mike klonsky said about that story in the current affairs at the post dispatch forum….the pd does not have a forum for education……by design I believe…..it is hard to keep an education post from disappearing among all the other current affairs in the world…….had no luck with that one.
You’re most welcome, Joe. It’s so hard to keep up with everything that’s going on–most unfortunately–ALL over the U.S.
Which is why your blog, Diane, is our link to everything going on nationally, keeps us on our toes & is so very much necessary & appreciated by all of us.
from this morning…I added this to my pd post…..”Mika was back…..Morning Joe was not there……Al Sharpton and Chris Matthews were brought in to give a basic correction to all the stupidity about DeBlasio and Cuomo……..they said the same thing……that it made sense politically for both of them…….Cuomo has different people to answer to…..DeBlasio did exactly what he promised, and it made sense for the future of NYC………Sharpton also said, that he happened to agree with the progressive views of DeBlasio, mentioning the opposition to charters and outstate control of education……Matthews did not take sides, but said only that it did make sense for both of them….Cuomo had given a low-key, he is my friend and we have disagreed response.
The bozos who had been there with Joe the day before, just sat there and took it.”
Al Sharpton agreeing with de Blasio on charter schools is laughable. He was a big supporter of Obama’s education program which supports charter schools.
How dare you email us Chuck. You have no credibility. You sold us out and took the money and ran. Rick Milhizer