Mayor de Blasio tries to lower the volume in feud with Gov. Cuomo

NEW YORK (WABC) -- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio appears to be turning down the 'anger volume' in his feud with Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The mayor, just back from a vacation, explained that he's not so much fighting with the governor as he is defending the interests of New Yorkers.

De Blasio didn't exactly back down in his fight with the governor, but he wasn't nearly as emphatic.

Last week he called out Cuomo, saying he lacked leadership. "If someone disagrees with him openly some kind of revenge or vendetta follows," the mayor said then.

Thursday, when we asked about Cuomo, he said "But I can work with anyone, including people I have disagreements with."

In case you missed it, last week, before going on vacation, the mayor was livid Albany did not give him long-term control of city schools.

Mayor Bloomberg got a six-year-deal, de Blasio only one year.

Despite a gentler tone Thursday, the mayor said he's still kind of ticked.

"I would say my most illustrious predecessor, Fiorello La Guardia, didn't bite his tongue. I think he called 'em as he saw 'em. He was the greatest mayor I ever saw and it's my job to speak truth as I see it," he said.

Earlier this week the governor said it's not his style. But it is the mayor's to vent publicly and he offered this condescending line on the mayor and this whole controversy:

"I understand why he's frustrated, I get frustrated, but we have a situation in Albany where you don't always get everything you want. That's called life," the governor said.

We asked the mayor about the governor. He did not get all huffy, but he did hint there may yet be another chapter in this Cuomo-de Blasio scuffle.

"The Albany status quo has not served the people of New York City and I'm not going to play by a set of rules that doesn't serve my people," he said.

It was pretty obvious the mayor wanted to ratchet things down in this ongoing dispute with Governor Cuomo. And as one of the mayor's staffers said later 'it really does the mayor no good to keep this fight going.'

Also, the mayor and governor don't really need each other right now, as the legislature in Albany remains on summer break.