When he was talking about his daughter’s boyfriend, or making meatballs for the family dinner, or yukking it up with his brother on CNN, it was easy to forget Gov Cuomo’s prickly side.
But when the criticism cascaded with allegations that his administration was covering up the number of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes, the shine began to wear off.
The bully was back.
To hear Cuomo — who faces a federal investigation over the crisis — tell the story, he’s just a Queens tough guy, forged in the outer borough fire of political and personal survival.
But his detractors have a different version, and their tales date back long before Cuomo was accused of threatening Assemblyman Ron Kim, who had suggested that a Cuomo aide dodged the nursing home issue during a call with lawmakers.
“I was about to bathe my three kids when I received a call from the governor,” the Queens assemblyman told ABC’s “The View.”
“He spent 10 minutes threatening my career.”
He said Cuomo had threatened to “destroy” him.
This is the same Cuomo who was forced to lick his wounds and rebuild his image after a brutal gubernatorial primary loss nearly 20 years ago to then-state Comptroller Carl McCall.
The defeat left some bitter feelings between Cuomo and New York’s Democratic establishment until a humbled Cuomo made a political comeback with a win in 2006’s state attorney general’s race before a victory in 2010 put him in the governor’s mansion, where his father once reigned for three terms.
But critics said it didn’t take long for the prickly Cuomo to reemerge.
“It’s a sad thing to say, but that’s classic Andrew Cuomo,’ Mayor de Blasio, a chief Cuomo rival, told MSNBC. “A lot of people in New York State have received those phone calls. The bullying is nothing new”
Cuomo and de Blasio have been feuding for most of de Blasio’s time in office over issues including the pandemic, snowstorm preparations and charter schools. But de Blasio thinks Cuomo’s demeanor runs deeper.
“I don’t think it’s just government,” de Blasio told The Associated Press. “A number of your colleagues in the media will tell you about calls where they were berated and belittled. It’s something that a lot of people in New York State have known about for a long time. I can’t get into the why. That’s a deeper question, I can only say it’s a very unfortunate way to treat people.”
Cuomo’s aides were quick to defend the governor.
“This is a governor who works night and day to move the ball down the field for New Yorkers and they know that, which is why he has been elected and reelected three times over the last 10 years,” his senior adviser, Rich Azzopardi, said in a statement.
Azzopardi, who said he was on the governor’s phone call with Kim, said the assemblyman is “lying” about the conversation.
And the state’s top Democrats, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, have not sounded any alarms.
Heastie said in a statement that “everyone involved needs to lower the temperature.”
Stewart-Cousins, meanwhile, has backed a bill that would restrict Cuomo’s emergency executive power to issue sweeping mandates during the coronavirus pandemic.
“The issue is, that we are very often learning about these directives the same time you in the press are, and that’s not acceptable,” Stewart-Cousins told Spectrum News. “I don’t consider it a rebuke. I consider it a reality of where we are now. We are not trying to slow anything down. We want to get the information before you do it.”
Cuomo has pointed out that the Legislature could override any executive decision with a simple majority vote but has yet to do so.
Stewart-Cousins also tamped down talk about censuring the governor over the alleged Kim outburst.
“I think we are all called to do a job and everyone is passionate about doing their job right,” she said.
Still, more Democrats have felt empowered to call out Cuomo, including state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, who represents parts of Westchester and the Bronx.
“Gov. Cuomo’s statements today about Assembly member Kim are part of a disturbing pattern of behavior from the governor,” Biaggi said. “I hope to see all legislators stand behind Assembly member Kim, and like he bravely did, resist the governor’s threats and strong-arming.
Biaggi also pointed out that Cuomo chose to “attack Assembly member Kim at the same time we are seeing a disturbing rise in anti-Asian racism and violence in our state and across the country.”
“Choosing to single out an Asian-American lawmaker is dangerous, and could have serious consequences,” she said.
Biaggi’s comments were part of a growing Democratic chorus.
“What Ron Kim described is not a terribly unusual story,” Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris of Queens said.
“I think it’s quite clear that there is an appetite for accountability,” Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani said. “And for far too long the governor has considered himself above that.”
