Source: Politics<\/p>\n
ALBANY \u2014 It seems impossible to imagine now, but there was a shining moment seven years ago when the governor of New York and the mayor of New York City seemed like buddies.<\/p>\n
It was 2014, and the city was still recovering from the devastation of Superstorm Sandy. In his autobiography, released that year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote about the challenges that would await the state and city when the next big disaster hit: \u201cFortunately, my longtime friend and former HUD colleague Bill de Blasio is now mayor of New York, and being able to work cooperatively will be a major asset,\u201d he wrote in “All Things Possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
That cooperative spirit, like the book itself, had a very limited shelf life.<\/p>\n
Cuomo\u2019s then-longtime friend will soon be a former mayor, raising new questions about how the embattled and combative governor will deal with whomever emerges from the city\u2019s ranked-choice vote counting. Although Cuomo is under investigation and facing a potential impeachment, he may outlast de Blasio in office. Eric Adams is leading the Democratic primary at the moment \u2014 should he prevail, he would be the first New York City mayor with significant experience as a state legislator since Robert F. Wagner, who served three terms in City Hall between 1954 and 1965.<\/p>\n
Adams\u2019 eight years as a state senator, the final two of which coincided with Cuomo\u2019s first two years as governor, might help him avoid the bumps and potholes that only mayors seem to find during the journeys north on the New York State Thruway.<\/p>\n
“He has a good relationship with the governor and you saw during the campaign that more New York City state officials supported him than any other candidate,” Adams campaign adviser Evan Thies said in an interview. “That\u2019s partially because he was a colleague of theirs for so long.”<\/p>\n
But as Cuomo and de Blasio reminded New Yorkers repeatedly since 2014, the institutional relationship between governor and mayor suggests it was designed not by political theorists but the fireworks-making Grucci family. New York City, despite its might as the nation\u2019s biggest city and a global seat of economic power, very much relies on the people who run its state capitol to get anything done. It\u2019s transit system is controlled by the state, and Cuomo in particular, and many of its most important policies require the blessing of elected officials from as far away as Niagara Falls.<\/p>\n
Structurally, conflict between mayor and governor just can\u2019t be avoided \u2014 and that has real consequences for the city\u2019s residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously the best outcome for New Yorkers is that the mayor and the governor get along,\u201d said Freddi Goldstein, a former top aide to de Blasio who worked in his office from 2016 to 2020. \u201cBut there’s very little historical precedent for that. I can say that my experience as a New Yorker and in city government shows that this governor is not really working for friends. And I just don’t see that dynamic changing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The governor has the raw political power; the mayor, the celebrity befitting the chief executive officer of the media capital of the world. The city is a creature of the state, as mayors often discover to their astonishment not long after taking their oath of office, and Albany \u2014 not just the governor, but the Legislature as well \u2014 prefers to keep its creation strapped to a gurney rather than have it thrashing about on its own.<\/p>\n
That was true when Gov. Al Smith decided that Mayor John Hylan had to go in favor of the ostensibly more-reliable Jimmy Walker in 1925; it was true of Nelson Rockefeller and John Lindsay, both presidential wannabes who got in each other\u2019s way in the 1960s; and it was true of bitter rivals Mario Cuomo and Ed Koch, the latter of whom managed to get in one last dig at his sparring partner (and his son)<\/a> before departing for presumably more-peaceful settings.<\/p>\n Add the distinctive personality of Andrew Cuomo to the mix and it would seem inevitable that the next mayor ought to invest in a couple of decent sweaters, for the governor, even in his embattled state, will surely cast a cold shadow over Gracie Mansion in the months to come.<\/p>\n Adams told moderators in a June 10 debate that he was confident he could build a good relationship with the governor, who is now facing an impeachment inquiry and criminal investigations tied to accusations of sexual and governmental misconduct. \u201cWell, I get along with everyone,\u201d Adams said. \u201cThat\u2019s the joy of who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to put my ego to the side,\u201d he continued, when pressed for details. \u201cI\u2019m going to sit down and work in relationship with the governor and say, \u2018we\u2019re team New York\u2019 and we\u2019re not going to have public disputes. We\u2019re going to solve our problems.\u2018\u201d<\/p>\n But some problems require not a hearty handshake but a hat in mayoral hand. Humility doesn\u2019t come easily to most politicians, but mayors of New York \u2014 as well as the Empire State\u2019s other cities \u2014 quickly learn that bowing and scraping<\/a> are necessary to get the funding and policies that only Albany can provide.<\/p>\n Adams would be the first Democratic mayor to come into office in decades without a foil from Republicans in the state Senate. De Blasio, a progressive, pursued a natural alliance with the downstate-dominated state Assembly, but Adams\u2019 more centrist positions might easier align with moderate ideology in the Senate \u2014 and with that of the governor himself. That could facilitate cooperative work with the governor and lawmakers on issues of importance to the city.<\/p>\n Still, there\u2019s humility and then there\u2019s humiliation, and de Blasio became only the latest New York City mayor to learn the difference. Adams might try a different style of responding to Cuomo\u2019s jabs, at least initially, said one longtime Democratic consultant who works in both city and state politics and is familiar with the Adam campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thing that I would say about Eric versus de Blasio is that is Eric isn’t afraid to get into a fight,\u201d said the consultant, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak frankly about the powerful figures. \u201cHe’s not afraid to start a fight and he certainly isn’t afraid to finish one. So I think that if that’s the way that he [Cuomo] wants to take it, I don’t think Eric’s going to take it lying down.\u201d<\/p>\n Cuomo has undercut, contradicted and superseded de Blasio too many times to count, and as the city prepares for a new regime, the governor saw fit to display the formidable power of his contempt as election results rolled after Tuesday\u2019s primary.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard for me to work with an administration that is hyper-political and is not competent,\u201d Cuomo said of de Blasio\u2019s City Hall during a news conference Wednesday morning. \u201cAnd it\u2019s hard for me to do that for a prolonged period of time. And I believe that\u2019s what happened with New York City \u2026 We need to get things done. We need results. And I need a competent partner in local government.\u201d<\/p>\n De Blasio\u2019s response<\/a> the following day? \u201cI stopped listening to him a long time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n Suffice it to say, the next mayor will be eager to persuade Cuomo that the de Blasio era is truly done and gone.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody has their own style, but [de Blasio] was running into a buzz saw that was a bad relationship with the governor,\u201d state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris said in an interview. \u201cSo every time he poked his head in to try to do something, it seemed like he was smacked down. Hopefully the next mayor will not run into that.\u201d<\/p>\n De Blasio was hard-pressed to find champions \u2014 even in the Democratic-led Assembly \u2014 who would really go to bat for him. That could have been helpful on several issues, including his unsuccessful attempts to eliminate the controversial entrance exam for the city\u2019s specialized high schools.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t necessarily a lack of good will, but an administration that didn\u2019t always work the Albany negotiation levers, state Sen. Brian Benjamin, a Manhattan Democrat, said in an interview at the Capitol.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to get someone who understands how power works,\u201d Benjamin said. \u201cIf you\u2019re mayor of New York City, you have jurisdiction over this, I have jurisdiction over that. If you want to get my group to do what you want, you come with the problem and you talk about the solution. You don\u2019t come with the solution you want already. There\u2019s no buy-in.\u201d<\/p>\n In that sense, Adams would appear to have an advantage over the only other two candidates who could overtake him when ranked-choice voting is completely tallied. Neither progressive Maya Wiley, a former de Blasio staffer and an MSNBC commentator, nor the more-moderate Kathryn Garcia, a former city Sanitation commissioner, have held elective office before. Adams has experience in both state and municipal politics, and as a moderate Democrat, he would seem a good fit to work with a governor whom progressives tend to despise.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there’s a very high likelihood that the relationship starts out positive,\u201d Goldstein said. \u201cWhoever wins, the governor reaches out to and they form some partnership, all hunky-dory in the beginning. But it would be naive to think that’s where the relationship stays.\u201c<\/p>\n So what will Adams start off with on his Albany wish list? Public safety, education and housing, said Thies, the Adams adviser.<\/p>\n \u201cAlbany can be most helpful with ensuring we have the resources we need for improvements to public safety,\u201d Thies said. \u201cThat\u2019s about dollars and programs from the NYPD to the MTA.\u201d<\/p>\n The perennial war over education funding, which saw a brief detente thanks to the federal stimulus package, is likely to heat up in future budgets, Thies said, and money for public and affordable housing will be an ever-present conflict.<\/p>\n