Democratic political operative Lis Smith on Monday savaged her former boss, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, over his municipal coronavirus response, while offering effusive praise for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s leadership amid the public health crisis.
“I do not think he has done well, and I don’t know a single person who thinks he has done well,” Smith said of de Blasio in an interview with POLITICO Playbook authors Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer.
A veteran of several Democratic campaigns, Smith most recently advised Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 White House bid, helping transform the little-known former Indiana mayor into a top-tier contender for his party’s presidential nomination and the winner of February’s Iowa caucuses.
Among her other consulting roles before working with Buttigieg, Smith served as de Blasio’s spokeswoman during his 2013 mayoral race. After de Blasio’s victory, however, Smith was denied a spot in his administration following intense tabloid coverage of her relationship with former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
Smith was also Cuomo’s spokeswoman when the governor successfully ran for reelection in 2018, securing a third term in office.
“Crises are where you really see who has what it takes to be a leader. And, you know, you’ve seen it, I think, with Andrew Cuomo,” Smith said Monday, adding that while “he’s really risen to this challenge,” de Blasio has “really shrunk away.”
Smith similarly charged that the mayor “has not led by example” — citing his heavily criticized March visit to his Park Slope YMCA, his exercise routine in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, his announcement that the city would proceed with its Fourth of July fireworks celebrations, and his plans to throw a ticker tape parade for health care workers and first responders after the outbreak had passed.
“I think this is a good lesson for New Yorkers that maybe … we should really put competence as the number one thing for our next mayor. And I don’t think that will be a hard sell after how Bill de Blasio has done over the last few months,” Smith said.
