These New Yorkers were on the anti-Cuomo train early!
Gov. Andrew Cuomo received a torrent of hate mail from New Yorkers in the days after his hand-picked subway boss Andy Byford left the MTA – with many of the missives blaming the Governor’s notoriously ego-driven leadership for the popular Briton ‘s departure. , the mail. has learned.
The governor received approximately 225 angry emails and letters in the eight days following Byford’s resignation on January 23, 2020, which became “ unbearable ” according to transit chief Cuomo, according to correspondence obtained through a request for freedom of information.
“I blame his departure for your shortsightedness, your ego, your need to control and pay tribute to the progress made with our subway system,” Philipos Wander Cuomo emailed the day after Byford stopped.
Under Byford’s leadership, the metros achieved their highest performance in six years on time. He also initiated the MTA’s modernization plan currently being pursued by his successors.
Neither performance was lost on New Yorkers.
“The man has accomplished a lot in his relatively short tenure on the NYC subway. Shame on you! Mary Jane Wilkie told the governor in a letter dated the day after Byford’s shocking resignation last year.
“It looks like the political environment has become nothing more than a bunch of guys dabbing around unable to control their testosterone.”
“It’s a shame you can’t share the spotlight,” wrote Malvina Nathanson. “You owe us all an apology.”
Byford blamed Cuomo for his departure from the MTA, less than two years after the governor appointed him to steer the tube out of the depths of 2017’s Summer of Hell.
Cuomo made the job “unbearable,” Byford said in an interview with WCBS-TV shortly before returning to the UK in March.
He accused the governor’s team of stepping behind his back and diminishing his role after Byford called for an “independent review” of Cuomo’s plan to prevent the L train from being shut down.
“I found myself excluded from meetings that were absolutely about the day-to-day business of the New York City Transit,” Byford said at the time. “The governor is in charge, the governor is in charge of the MTA. But in the end I had to run the system. “
Letters to the governor alternately denounced the third-term Democrat for letting his talented transit chief leave, begging him to let Byford stay – or both.
You swing like the bully in the MTA. You pushed Byeford out [sic] who is ideal for the job and has the staff that can do it … He who hires talent can shine with them. Undo that. To crawl [if] necessary ”, wrote Barbara Charton.
“I’m an always-Democrat voter, but I’ll always be against you in any future elected position you try unless you meet Byford and convince him to stay with the MTA,” emailed Joyce Stickney.
“As in the NY tradition of people like Trump and Giuliani, you are letting your obsession with getting credit and showing that ‘you are in charge’ jeopardize the successes of your appointee,” warned Rick O’Connell.
Cuomo’s leadership style has come back into the spotlight in recent weeks after he was accused of ‘destroying’ a state councilor for speaking out on the state’s decision to withhold records of thousands of deaths in nursing homes during the pandemic .
Transit observers said style was on full display in his treatment of Byford.
“Gov. Cuomo is unable to recognize the concept of reflected credit,” said David Bragdon of the Manhattan think tank TransitCenter. “If Andy C. had Andy B. run the NYCT, Andy C. would have gotten a lot more credit than he gets by pretending to run it himself.”
“Andy inspired an unparalleled level of confidence among riders and workers and New Yorkers, thanks to his independent professionalism, expertise and dedication, and it’s frankly not easy to replace,” said Danny Pearlstein, representative of the Riders Alliance. .
“Because of his clashes with the governor, he was essentially relegated to running trains and buses on a daily basis, but not to modernize the subway as he had proposed.”
Speaking to WCBS-TV last March, Byford suggested that Cuomo, known as the hero in every situation, might be jealous.
‘I didn’t seek the nickname’ Train Daddy ‘, I didn’t seek publicity. But the fact is, a good transportation professional goes out, ”he said. “We have held more than 100 public events. That generated a certain amount of publicity. If others didn’t like that, well, I didn’t mean to. “
Cuomo, for his part, claimed he never told Byford what to do. When asked if Byford was being “undermined,” the governor said, “At least he was over-mined because I interacted with his bosses.”
‘I didn’t work with Andy Byford. I have worked [MTA boss] Pat Foye… I have worked with his higher kings, ”the governor told reporters last March.
Neither the governor’s office nor Byford responded to requests for comment from The Post.