Disgraced Gov. Andrew Cuomo is milking his final days in office, keeping his successor at arm’s length and capitalizing on his final performance as man-in-charge as the state gets pounded by Tropical Storm Henri, according to political observers.
With just over 36 hours remaining in office, Cuomo used the storm to hog the limelight Sunday morning, reprising a familiar role that garnered him national attention before his career was torpedoed by a series of sexual harassment allegations substantiated by the state’s attorney general.
“He’s doing his best to keep a veneer as if the world hasn’t imploded on top of him,” said John Samuelsen, president of the Transit Workers Union, a former ally.
“His ego, every single time, is going to be the biggest thing in the room.”
During a 32-minute press briefing Sunday morning — and with his successor, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, nowhere in sight — a white polo-clad Cuomo delivered an update about the storm and the state’s efforts to handle it, sprinkling in trite wisecracks and even a head-scratching parable.
Cuomo — whose resignation becomes effective at 11:59 p.m. Monday, 14 days after he announced he was stepping down following the AG’s scathing report — quipped about his little brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, not heeding his advice about preparing for the heavy wind and rainfall.
“I told my brother, who lives on Long Island, to take his boat out of the water,” the governor said. “He did not listen. Now, he can go put many lines on his boat.”
After boasting about his LaGuardia Airport renovation, the 63-year-old Emmy Award winner made light of the Port Authority’s septuagenarian boss’s hair.
“He had a full head of black hair, just two years ago,” Cuomo said. “So it gives you a sense of the kind of strain that he’s been under, Rick Cotton.”
Samuelsen, the transit union leader, was unamused by the governor’s jesting.
“This is a freakin’ guy who gives hundreds of thousands of people gray hair by screwing them over,” he fumed.
State Sen. Gustavo Rivera of the Bronx lamented that Cuomo in recent days has sought to create “his own reality” in which he’s the state’s paladin.
“It’s in his nature that this person does not change, and he will not change, no matter what,” the Democratic lawmaker told The Post. “He completely ignores everything that’s happening outside and continues to build his own reality in his mind.”
“In his mind, he’s going to be the hero forever.”
In his signature sing-song cadence, Cuomo even took the time during the storm briefing to tell a curious story that he called “the cynical man and the storm” — a tale evocative of the governor’s own recalcitrant stance as calls for his resignation or impeachment mounted.
In the fable, the stubborn man dies in the storm after refusing the help of others. He then asks God why he didn’t save him.
“I’m confused. I went to church every Sunday, I’m a God-fearing man, I thought you would take care of me,” the man asks God, according to Cuomo.
God, according to the governor’s rendition, responds, “You’re confused? I’m confused. I sent the truck, a boat and a helicopter. What happened?”
“So, there’s only so much we can do,” said the governor with a chuckle after delivering the punch line. “It’s up to you.”
But at one point during his one-man act Sunday, the chief executive-turned-creep broke character to solemnly confirm that his time was over.
“Yes, my final day is tomorrow,” he said.
Sunday’s virtual press conference came a day after the third-term Democrat declared a state of emergency ahead of Henri, while refusing to answer questions that didn’t pertain to the storm.
“I am governor today, and I am in charge,” he said, when asked why Hochul, the soon-to-be governor, did not attend the briefing.
“This is also something I’ve done a few times.”
Betsy Gotbaum, head of good-government group Citizens Union, noted Cuomo’s recent public appearances without Hochul are reminiscent of his nationally televised ones in 2020 during the throes of the pandemic.
“It is the same pattern that he used with COVID. He takes charge, and that’s how he wants to go out, looking like he’s taking charge,” she said. “It doesn’t surprise me … It is exactly what he did during COVID.”
“Do I think it would be better to have [Hochul] at his side? Absolutely,” she added. “Would it be better? Yes. But it isn’t going to be.”
In response, a Cuomo spokesman blasted the governor’s latest critics.
“We’re focused on storm response and the LG [lieutenant governor] has been briefed on all efforts as the transition continues,” said the spokesman, Rich Azzopardi. “Your dial-a-quotes continue to be misinformed.”
Meanwhile, Hochul over the weekend traveled to Long Island to survey preparation for Henri — and to gear up for her 2022 re-election effort.
“There was no arrogance — she was all down to earth,” said the Rev. Alex Karloutsos, a Greek Orthodox pastor who on Saturday met with Hochul at the Capri Hotel in Southampton at a breakfast event he hosted with billionaire supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis.
She was “very solid and brought great comfort, she made us all feel very confident that we are moving forward,” Karloutsos, whose event was attended by other politicos, told The Post.
The meeting came after Hochul attended a fundraiser in Southampton on Friday at the home of philanthropist Judith Kasen-Windsor, according to an event flier obtained by The Post. Among those scheduled to attend the fundraiser were New York Assemblywoman Rebecca Seawright and former New York Rep. Liz Holtzman.
A rep for Hochul, who on Tuesday is scheduled be sworn in as the first woman to serve as New York’s governor, insisted that she’s been “involved” in Henri preparation.
“The governor is still the governor and decided to hold a storm briefing yesterday and now this morning. The lieutenant governor is actively involved and monitoring storm prep and response in coordination with the chamber, state and federal agencies,” said transition team spokeswoman Haley Viccaro.
“She was on LI yesterday discussing and touring storm prep with local officials in Southampton and she was on the WH briefing call yesterday with the governor,” Viccaro added. “She is continuing to be involved with storm prep and response.
“Just because she is not at [the governor’s] presser does not mean she’s not involved.”
Cuomo also insisted that, though she didn’t participate in the pair of weekend news conferences, Hochul is in the loop as he prepares to move out.
“Yeah, the lieutenant governor has been briefed on all of this, and we’re in constant communication,” Cuomo said Sunday morning.
Additionally, Cuomo said that, with the aim of easing the transition, he requested his emergency response unit to stick around post-Henri “until the situation is completed.”
“I have asked my emergency management team, to the extent they were thinking of leaving Tuesday, that I would appreciate the accommodation for the good of the state,” he said. “If they could stay in place until this situation is completed, depending on what the aftermath needs to be.”
The outgoing governor took only two questions from reporters before ending one of his last press conferences by advising New Yorkers to exercise caution and good judgment as they weathered the tropical storm.
“Please,” he said, “don’t be the cynical man in the storm.”
