Ed Koch (Photo: Emily Anne Epstein)

Andrew Cuomo is among the mourners attending Ed Koch's funeral today in Manhattan, but the governor and his family didn't always enjoy the best relationship with the former mayor.

Koch ran against Governor Cuomo's father, Mario, twice. They first faced off when Koch made it to City Hall in the 1977 mayoral election. In 1982, Koch ran for governor and was defeated by the elder Mr. Cuomo. The 1977 campaign included an incident where posters alluding to the widespread rumors about Mr. Koch's sexuality by proclaiming "Vote For Cuomo, Not The Homo" were placed all along Queens Boulevard.

This situation evidently caused a lasting rift between Koch and the Cuomos. However in one of his final interviews with Politicker, Koch explained the signs weren't among the reasons he initially had issues with Cuomo the younger. 

There have long been rumors that Andrew Cuomo was responsible for the inflammatory posters. In a 2007 interview taped with the New York Times with the understanding it was to be aired only after his death, Koch said Mario Cuomo promised to "do something" about the signs. Koch admitted he didn't think Mario actually attempted to stop and the posters  situation caused him to have animosity towards both members of the Cuomo clan.

"I don't think he did anything. That matter has affected our relationship from '77 through this year," said Koch. "We get along and we got along as mayor and governor, but I always held it against him. I also held it against his son, Andy Cuomo. Even though social relationships when we meet in public are good, underneath, he knows I know what I'm really thinking: 'You prick!'"

Andrew Cuomo in a high school yearbook photo taken about two years before the 1977 mayoral campaign.

Koch told us he believed Andrew Cuomo's denials of having ever been involved in the poster flap. In spite of this, Koch admitted there were things he held against the younger Mr. Cuomo. Specifically, Koch was upset with Mr. Cuomo  for criticism of the governor's ex-wife, Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, that appeared in the press attributed to sources close to Mr. Cuomo during their contentious divorce. He also blamed Mr. Cuomo, who dropped out of the 2002 governor's race when he was running on the Liberal Party line and prosecuted the party's former boss Ray Harding in a pay-for-play scandal, for destroying the party.

"He appeared before a gay group looking for their support, I think it was when he was attorney general, and he said, 'I had nothing to do with it,'" Koch said of Mr. Cuomo and the poster incident. "And he came up to see me and he said, I'd like your support.' And I said, Andrew, I could never support you. I'm not talking about 'Vote For Cuomo, Not the Homo,' because you said you didn't do it. ... I don't know who did it, but somebody did it. I'm willing to accept that. I'm not desirous of holding grudges anymore.' That's what I said to him, 'It takes too much energy. But I can't vote for you because of what you did in attacking your wife and also you destroyed the Liberal Party.'"

Mr. Cuomo addressed these accusations and was able to earn Koch's support.

"He said, 'I didn't attack my wife, my friends did, and I told them not to do it and I'm sorry they did it. And I did injure the Liberal Party, but they have forgiven me. Ray Harding has forgiven me,'" Koch said Mr. Cuomo told him. "So, I said, 'Look, if he's forgiven you, then I don't have to hold it against you, I'll endorse you.' And I endorsed him."

Though Koch endorsed Mr. Cuomo when he ran for attorney general and for governor, his loyalties seem to lie elsewhere in terms of the national stage. Both Mr. Cuomo and Hillary Clinton are rumored to be considering presidential bids in 2016. In his final days, Koch was clear he supported Ms. Clinton over any other potential opponents. However, Koch said he would eagerly back Mr. Cuomo for another term in Albany.

"I think he's fulfilled the goals that I hoped he would achieve," said Koch of Mr. Cuomo. "I think he's done a marvelous job."

Koch, who is well-known for constantly courting press and held multiple daily briefings, said he was particularly impressed with the way Mr. Cuomo, who has had a more distant relationship with the press, handles the media.

"What he did that surprised me, he avoided the press," Koch told us. "I said to him at a dinner once ... he came over to say hello and I said, 'Your'e doing a terrific job and you're obviously listening to your dad and not running after the press and looking for interviews. It's marvelous.' And he said, 'It's not my dad, it's my mom. My mom gave me the advice.'"

Additional reporting by Colin Campbell.

(Updated to note Mr. Cuomo's withdrawal from the 2002 gubernatorial election.) 

Governor Andrew Cuomo (Getty)

For New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, standing up for his richest constituents is a matter of life and death.

Governor Cuomo revealed how he feels about the so-called "millionaire's tax" when he compared his opposition to the popular tax to his father, former Governor Mario Cuomo, battling the death penalty at a press conference in Albany this afternoon. 

Surveys show 72% of New Yorkers support tax increases for people who make more than $1 million each year, but Governor Cuomo said he doesn't want a state millionaire tax. Capitol Tonight reports Governor Cuomo referenced his father's longtime fight against the death penalty when explaining his position on the tax:

“My father was governor of this state. He was against the death penalty. Everyone in the state wanted the death penalty — everyone. It was near 80 percent. And he was the governor of the state and he said he wasn’t going to sign it. Every year — go back and talk to some of the people who know the history — every year we had to scramble and make sure there wasn’t an override of the veto. ... The point is, we don’t elect — the governor isn’t a big poll taking machine … so the fact that everyone wants it, that doesn’t mean all that much. I respect the people, their opinion matters, but I’m not going to go back and forth with the political winds.”

Governor Cuomo tried to have his millionaire's tax and eat it too, clarifying his position by saying he'd support the tax at the federal level though he doesn't want to see it in New York State.

...And OEM Director Skip Funk apparently lives in Florida.

Mario Cuomo is the lead investor in a group hoping to acquire a bank which would then create a new line of lending aimed at struggling municipalities, setting up a possible conflict of his interest with his son.

The NYPD placed an undercover cop at a Ground Zero Mosque protest last year.

Jonathan Lippmann is calling for a less punitive approach to juvenile offenders, sending some to family court first.

Dennis Walcott announced that the city would open 50 new middle schools in the next two years.

At the United Nations yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg spoke about the city's public health efforts, and "he took full advantage of the opportunity to brag, to indulge in his inner scold and to give a plug to Bloomberg Philanthropies and his alma mater, Johns Hopkins, for their work on public health," Anemona Hartocollis writes.

Common Cause is breaking with other groups calling for an independent redistricting commission in favor of strict criteria over how lines are drawn.

Justice Department lawyers are asking a federal judge to move up the date of New York state's primary election because local election officials have failed to mail ballots in time to military personnel and other Americans overseas.

Prospective jurors in the John Haggerty trial are  being asked their opinion of Mayor Bloomberg.

About 50 of Manhattan's most popular restaurants are being forced to explain how they comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Walmart foes predict an influx of superstores if the retail giant is able to get a toehold in NYC.

Texting while driving tickets are going up.

A look at what it would actually take for Barack Obama to lose New York.

986 - Governor Mario Cuomo shoots a basketball in the Youthland area during his visit to the New York State Fair. Nicholas Lisi / The Post-Standard

2012: Buffet hosts Obama fund-raiser on 9/30 at Four Seasons; $38,000 VIPs get 1hr Q&A with Goolsbee. [Page Six]

2012: "Libby Pataki, who never craved limelight and who loves her life now, she’ll be supportive? Yes." [Cindy Adams / NY Post]

2012: Pataki is probably campaigning for VP, or a job in new administration. [Colby Hamilton / WNYC]

2012: "There are now rumblings from Donald Trump, a former contender for the Republican nomination, that he may run as an independent. There are certain to be others." [Patrick Caddell and Douglas Schoen / WSJ]

NY-13: Possible Dem candidate Murphy has not opened a campaign account yet. [Tom Wrobleski / SI Advance]

NY-25: "Dan Maffei to run again, but district might no longer include Monroe County." [Jill Terreri / Democratic and Chronicle]

54AD: "My job is to campaign. I don't screen every dollar that I receive," said Espinal, when asked about donations from a slumlord. [Erin Dunkin / Daily News]

9/11: Editors urge Bloomberg to allow clergy to pray at anniversary ceremony, noting he's had clergy at his own inauguration. [NY Post]

China: White House says Biden finds China's 1-child policy "repugnant." [Aliyah Shahid / Daily News]

"Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo": Daily News editors trash AP story about NYPD security tactics.

Security Tactics: Star-Ledger runs the AP story above the fold. [Flickr]

State Fair: Cuomo goes there today. Newspaper notes "The truth is, at the fair, Mario was at his best." [Sean Kirst / Post-Standard]

Vacation: "[Cuomo] spent much of the last week in the Hamptons." [Thomas Kaplan / New York Times]

Taxes: "We need real reform of the tax code in which everyone is asked to make some contribution, however small," writes the publisher of the NY Daily News. [Mort Zuckerman / WSJ]

5 p.m.: Zuckerman discusses his op-ed on WSJ.com.

Mortage Probe: Schneiderman's allies apply pressure to Iowa AG. [Jimmy Vielkind / Times Union]

Mortgage Probe: Editors say Schneiderman is opposing the settlement deal because of politics. [NY Post]

Scandal: "Holder called the prospect of hacking 'disgusting' and 'unconscionable.'" [Joseph Straw / Daily News]

DSK: "The dismissal of the charges in no way means that Strauss-Kahn is innocent." [Leslie Crocker Snyder / Daily News]

Property Taxes: Despite 2% cap, they may rise, thanks to soaring pension costs. [Rick Karlin / Times Union]

Schools: "Our safeguards have clearly worked. A comprehensive search for cheating in 2009 by city Controller William Thompson came up empty." [Dennis Walcott / Daily News]

Teacher Evaluations: "[P]ublic-school educators can't be deemed ineffective based only on the performance of their students." [Jacob Gershman / WSJ]

Rochester: Ally of Mayor Byron Brown kicked off ballot over residency issues. [Matt Gryta and Brian Meyer / Buffalo News]

Nassau: "Does he think that if he gives the workers free hot dogs and burgers that all will be forgiven?" PBA re: Mangano's BBQ. [Celeste Hardwick / Newsday]

Nassau: Unresolved ballot issues on Long Island make sending absentee ballots difficult. [Robert Brodsky / Newsday]

The New York Times obit said Carey "ran for mayor of New York as an independent, angering Democratic Party leaders and prompting predictions of his political demise."

Here, the term "independent" most likely refers to the fact that Carey ran as a Democrat, but not with support from the any notable part of the Democratic establishment; not that he ran as something other than a Democrat.

So, Carey's lower-case 'independent' run in 1969 is different than, say, Mayor Bloomberg's political label now, which is capital 'Independent,' since he's not enrolled in any party.

(Carey's independence from the Democratic establishment didn't end in 1969. Former aide Bill Cunningham, now a managing partner at DKC said that when Carey ran for governor in 1974, even his hometown county organization in Brooklyn wasn't supportive of him at the State convention. They opted instead to go with Howard Samuels. Brooklyn Paper has good details on that.)

Carey lost his race in 1969, freeing him up to run for governor and save New York.

Blogger Gatemouth, who first brought the the Times reference to my attention, has this description of the '69 campaign season.

He started an abortive run in the dem primary, with running mates Councilman Robert Low of Manhattan for Council Pres, and Court Street lawyer Mario cuomo for Comptroller.

The former mayor, Robert Wagner joined the race, with a lot (but not all ) of the clubhouses behind him.

Carey dropped out and joined Wagner's ticket as the candiate for Council Pres, on a ticket which also included State Senator Seymour Thaler of Queens for comptroller--Low stayed in the race without a ticket and opposed Carey. Cuomo dropped  out.

Carey placed a close second --Low a close third, other losers in the race included Jimmy Breslin (running on the slate of Mayoral candiate Norman Mailer) and Assemblyman Charlie Rangel.

(It was almost always better to lose a race for council Pres than win one--the runner up in the 65 primary was Pat Moynihan)

The Demcroatic Mayoral primary had been won by the races only right winger, Mario Proccacino, taking advantage of a four way split between candiates of the center-left and left.

With the Dem and GOP (John Marchi, scoring a stunning upset of incumbent John Lindsay) both right wingers and Italians, Carey did contemplate an independent run for about three minutes, but it soon became clear liberals would rally around Lindsay, running on the liberal line, so Carey's independent race went no further than the musing stage