Gov. Cuomo didn’t exactly rush to Mayor Bloomberg’s defense yesterday when asked about the City Hall scandal involving the arrest of then-Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith.
Cuomo — who has butted heads with Hizzoner since taking office in January — offered a tepid response concerning the decision to conceal why Goldsmith, charged with domestic violence, resigned last month.
“The mayor admitted what actually happened, and now it’s going to be up to the people to judge whether he handled it appropriately,” the governor said before marching in the annual West Indian-American Day Parade on Eastern Parkway.
“We all bring our own management style and values to office, and the people who elected us are the judges. I think that’s the way it should be and that’s what will happen here.”
Bloomberg accepted the resignation on Aug. 1, two days after the arrest in Washington. Goldsmith spent a weekend behind bars but was let go when his wife refused to cooperate with the investigation. The mayor claimed Goldsmith left to pursue a private-sector job. The Post broke the story Thursday.
Bloomberg yesterday continued to defend his decision, but City Comptroller John Liu, a frequent critic, said the mayor owed the voters an apology.
“There’s an issue of trust here,” Liu said. “When we’re talking about a deputy mayor who was in charge of so much critical operation for the people of New York City, who spent a couple of days in jail, I think the people of New York City have a right to know more and to hear the words ‘I’m sorry’ from the mayor himself.”
Liu, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer — each a potential mayoral contender in 2013 — have called on the City Council to hold hearings to learn more about the arrest.
But Council Speaker Christine Quinn, another mayoral hopeful, said no such hearing was currently planned.
Bloomberg, who joined a deluge of city pols at yesterday’s parade, stuck to his story from Sunday — that withholding word of Goldsmith’s arrest was the right thing to do.
“It would be the most inappropriate thing for us to ever do, to try to influence any investigation on domestic violence anyplace,” he said. “And so I made a conscious decision not to inform people. Because you never know — the more people that know, the more likely it is somebody would say something.”