It was a territorial thing - both of these grown up little boys like to be the center of attention and don't much like when someone else is getting some at their expense.
Thus the Cuomo-Bloomberg relationship was rife with tension and neither of these guys seemed to much like the other.
With Bloomberg now gone from office, Sheriff Andy has gotten much more magnanimous toward the former NYC mayor, however - at the expense of the current one:
Already fighting with Mayor de Blasio over prekindergarten and the minimum wage, Gov. Cuomo took a pass when asked about the mayor's decision to nix three charter schools run by former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz.
But Cuomo, appearing on public radio's "The Capitol Pressroom Friday, made it clear he backs the charter school movement and even went so far as to praise former Mayor Mike Bloomberg for having led the charge.
"Mayor Bloomberg was a champion of charter schools," Cuomo said. "He and his administration worked very hard to advance the movement and they did."
Of course Cuomo still despises Bloomberg the way he did all throughout the Bloomberg administration, but this is his way of sticking the shiv into current Mayor Bill de Blasio over the charter school issue.
De Blasio and Cuomo are supposed to be friends, but with friends like Sheriff Andy, so willing to stick the knife in your back, who needs enemies?
And once again, we get evidence that Governor Cuomo, ever on the take from the hedge fundies and charter operators, is willing to shill for the privatization of the public school system.
Public school teachers, parents and students are in a tough position here. While De Blasio has not been as strong as people hoped - no surprise to many readers of this blog, I imagine - he nevertheless is making some efforts to right the grotesque inequities caused by charter schools, and can safely assumed to be under tremendous pressure by the local Overclass to allow privatization to continue.
ReplyDeleteUnless we get out into the streets to show that there is a large constituency willing to fight for the public schools, De Blasio will either give in completely or be destroyed. In either case, that could lead to the endgame coming upon us very soon.
Whatever his temporizing and shortcomings, we probably have no choice but to (critically) support him, get active and loud, and show that there is widespread opposition to the takeover of the schools.
Just built a new post around your comment, Michael:
Deletehttp://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2014/03/supporting-de-blasio-on-charter-school.html
Michael, it would help a lot, if the owners of Macy's would call a press conference, and voluntarily close all of their stores, pile all of their employees in buses and take them to City Hall for this demonstration. And then when they are asked, why they are doing this, they can say it is an part of our staff development. We want to have our employees be able to know they have a civic voice. Then to make up the lost revenue, we will tack on a $5 development fee to all sales.
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