Eric Adams Backs De Blasio in Fight With Cuomo

Attorney General Schneiderman, City Council Speaker Mark-Viverito and Public Advocate James all declined to back Bill de Blasio for his comments yesterday blasting Governor Cuomo, but de Blasio did get public support from Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams:

One Democrat who did have Mr. de Blasio’s back was Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. Mr. Adams, a former Democratic state senator, defended the mayor after he spoke at Mr. Schneiderman’s event, telling the Observer he was “grateful” Mr. de Blasio spoke out.

He blamed Mr. Cuomo for helping Senate Republicans gerrymander their districts, not adequately funding public schools, and failing to sufficiently strengthen rent regulations.

“We’re frustrated and angry and expect more from a Democratic governor,” he said.

I understand Dems like Scheiderman, James and Mark-Viverito not wanting to pick a fight with Cuomo that they didn't start, but this kind of caution veers into co-dependency when it comes to Cuomo.

So far, no prominent Dems have come out in support of Cuomo (despite his calling around to get some public support), a couple have backed de Blasio (state senator Mark Panepinto and now Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.)

We'll see how this progresses.

Conjecture from some journos on twitter is that this battle will peter out as both Cuomo and de Blasio realize they have more to lose than gain, and that it will all end with some "beer summit" bro-hug.

Perhaps.

Nonetheless I think it was important for de Blasio to stop the abuse and take a public stand against Cuomo.

As Alex Balk wrote at The Awl today:

For those of us who have feared that, rather than craftily allowing himself to appear as an amiable dunce in an attempt to do liberalism by stealth, de Blasio actually is just a big fucking dummy who means well but couldn’t tie his shoes without asking for four different perspectives on whether you put the left lace over the right or the other way around, it’s a pleasure to see him finally stand up for himself, whether or not it will have a negative effect on how the governor treats the city from now on. (What’s Cuomo going to do, fuck New York over worse? He’s boxed out from running for president and if he wants a third term he’s not going to get it on votes from Utica and Plattsburgh alone.) 

Seriously, how much worse can Cuomo screw NYC over than he a;ready has?

Especially now that de Blasio has torn back the curtain and said "Hey, guy's a prick, he screws with us just to screw with us and we now expect more since I've gone public with the bullshit games he plays."

And especially since Cuomo's already roundly hated upstate and only survives with approval ratings above Spitzer levels because of the support he has in NYC.

Vallone Scholarship Back For CUNY Students

This is great news:

Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and a slew of elected officials announced today the restoration of the CUNY Merit-Based Scholarship Program, formerly known as the Peter Vallone scholarship.

In the new city budget, the City Council allocated $11.1 million into the program that will provide merit-based scholarships to New York City high school student graduates who are able to maintain a B average and above at City University of New York schools. The program will start in the fall of 2014 and will grant first-year students $400 dollars per semester for supplies, textbooks and other expenses.

The scholarship was named after the former longtime speaker of the City Council, Peter Vallone, father of current Councilman Paul Vallone. Ms. Mark-Viverito, an alumnus of a Baruch College graduate program, celebrated the restoration of the scholarship after her predecessor, Christine Quinn, cut funding to it.

“The CUNY Merit Scholarship represents our commitment today to our city’s tomorrow by providing $11.1 million to reward graduates for their hard work and academic achievement and to connect them with the support and resources they need to succeed,” she said.

Christine Quinn cut the scholarship completely in retaliation against Vallone because he had pissed her off.

She also cut funding for senior citizen centers because a council member didn't thank her in a P.R. release.

There is just not enough bad stuff that can happen to Christine Quinn.

That the current council speak and council has brought the Vallone Scholarship back is very, very good news for CUNY students.

It's also very, very good news that Christine Quinn got hammered in the 2013 election and is no longer in power.

Cutting the Vallone Scholarship to retaliate against Peter Vallone Jr. was a shitty thing to do and something I will never forget or let Quinn live down so long as I can type.