Gov got fried for Byford bye-bye
These New Yorkers were on the anti-Cuomo train early.
Gov. Cuomo received a torrent of hate mail in the days after his handpicked subway boss Andy Byford quit the MTA — with many blaming the governor’s notoriously ego-driven leadership for the popular Brit’s exit, The Post has learned.
The governor received around 225 angry e-mails and letters in the eight days after Byford’s Jan. 23, 2020, resignation, which the transit chief blamed on Cuomo becoming “intolerable,” according to correspondence obtained through a Freedom of Information request.
“I blame his leaving on your shortsightedness, your ego, your need to control and take credit for the progress made with our subway system,” Philipos Wander e-mailed Cuomo the day after Byford quit.
Under Byford’s leadership,
the subways hit their highest on-time performance in six years. He also set in motion the MTA modernization plan currently being pursued by his successors.
Neither feat was lost on New Yorkers.
“The man has accomplished a lot in his relatively short tenure with the NYC subway. Shame on you for interfering!” Mary Jane Wilkie told the governor in a letter dated the day after Byford’s resignation.
“It’s a shame you cannot share the spotlight,” wrote Malvina Nathanson. “You owe us all an apology.”
Byford blamed Cuomo for his departure, which came less than two years after the governor brought him on to steer the subways out of the depths of the 2017 “Summer of Hell.”
Neither the Governor’s Office nor Byford responded to requests for comment.