Cuomo takes one final shot at his nemesis Bill de Blasio before leaving office in disgrace

• The longstanding feud between Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio saw one last jab on Monday.
• In Cuomo’s final speech as governor, he insulted the NYC mayor.
• Cuomo said mayoral nominee Eric Adams will bring “competence to the position.”
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

After nearly eight years of petty slights and territorial spats, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo couldn’t help adding one more insult to his feud with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio during his farewell address on Monday.

Cuomo made misleading statements about the sexual harassment allegations against him being uncorroborated, played the hits on his pandemic response, and rattled off what he sees as his biggest accomplishments before taking aim at de Blasio one last time while in office.

The governor presented the prerecorded speech before officially stepping down at midnight following his resignation announcement on August 10.

“Eric Adams will be the next mayor of New York City,” Cuomo said, referring to the Brooklyn borough president and former police officer who still has to win the general election in November. “I think he’ll bring a new philosophy and competence to the position.”

The outgoing governor left little room for interpretation with the mention of “competence.”

After years of taking Cuomo’s attacks on the chin, de Blasio began to fight back more fiercely in late 2020 and early 2021.

The term-limited mayor said Cuomo’s “bullying is nothing new” in a TV appearance back in February, and as the governor’s several ongoing scandals escalated, de Blasio became increasingly vocal about his frustrations.

Mayor de Blasio’s staff also threw some shots in, with his press secretary saying “serial sexual assaulter says what?” when asked about allegations against Cuomo.

The precise origins of the feud have remain unknown, with Cuomo and de Blasio carrying out an uneventful relationship from their time together at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) until de Blasio won the 2013 NYC mayoral race.

As time went on with the pair in office, tense joint appearances were replaced by one of the two holding an event hours before the other, often with each lawmaker contradicting the other on specific policy issues. This came to a head during the pandemic, when de Blasio would signal one public health response only to have Cuomo undermine him with a state directive.

Cuomo and de Blasio were notably at odds over whether to issue a shelter in place order at the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak in the Big Apple.

The governor even reportedly kept a dartboard with de Blasio’s face on it, but since it was located by the pool of the governor’s mansion, the dartboard – and possibly his dog, Captain – will need a new home now that Cuomo is moving out.