ALBANY, N.Y. -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo's last cabinet meeting in Albany was held in Feb. 2015. It happened to be on the same day New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was in Albany to testify on the state budget.
Cuomo, at the time, insisted he wasn't trying to grab the spotlight, but the hostility between Cuomo and de Blasio is now out in the open after the mayor gave a searing critique of the governor, accusing him of siding with Senate Republicans during the end of session talks.
"What I believe here is the governor worked with the (state) Senate in some cases to inhibit the work of the Assembly, to inhibit the agenda that New York City put forward," said de Blasio, D-New York City.
The criticism highlighted the long-simmering rivalry between the two prominent New York Democrats. Governors and New York City mayors often don't see eye to eye, but Cuomo has differing relationships with the state's other big-city mayors.
In March, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren praised Cuomo's agenda, especially when it comes to education. Cuomo has lavished attention and economic development aid to Western New York and Buffalo in particular. In turn, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown has been a major supporter of the governor. In June, Cuomo personally pushed for Yonkers, which borders New York City, to receive a multi-million dollar education boost in order to resolve a school funding crisis.
If there's one upstate mayor who de Blasio can sympathize with its Syracuse's Stephanie Miner. Once the state Democratic Committee co-chair, Miner and Cuomo had a falling out over disagreements with pension smoothing and infrastructure spending.