Mayor Eric Adams’ decision to dine with disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo — for a second time — as Gov. Kathy Hochul attempts to get him bail-reform changes in Albany was an “alarming” and “disrespectful” slap in the face to her, critics told The Post Wednesday.  

Adams on Tuesday night dined with the scandal-scarred ex-gov as negotiations on New York’s overdue budget came down to the wire, Page Six exclusively reported. The Midtown tête-à-tête, held at French restaurant Le Pavillon, came after the pair of Democrats in February dined for about two hours at Osteria La Baia and amid buzz that Cuomo will jump into the race for governor against Hochul.

“Getting political advice from Andrew Cuomo is like getting fire-prevention tips from an arsonist,” quipped Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens).

“Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams should focus on advancing policies to address the employment, housing and health crisis in New York State, not provide billions for NFL football stadiums and planning dinners with failed governors at the most expensive restaurants in New York City.”

As lawmakers and the governor worked on the state’s 2023 fiscal year budget, Hochul’s budget embraced multiple state-level legislative priorities sought by Adams, such as an extension of mayoral control of New York City public schools and tweaks to the state 2019 criminal justice reforms.

But as New York lawmakers and Hochul ironed out details on the more than $200 billion spending plan, Adams was hanging out with Cuomo — who recently floated he may launch a campaign with his near-$20 million war chest to oust the state’s current chief executive.

“Kathy’s trying to do Eric’s bidding, while Eric sits eating dinner with the guy who is trying to undermine her at every step,” said one Democratic legislative source.

“Welcome to the total disarray and disfunction of NY Democrats,” said New York State GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy in a statement. “Hochul can’t get a budget deal and the legislature is running roughshod over her, but the fact that the mayor is more interested in face time with the former governor than the current one shows you everything you need to know about how feckless and weak this governor and administration is.” 

A Democratic political operative who asked to remain anonymous to speak freely called the Tuesday evening meeting “disrespectful” to the sitting governor, given the timing of it and since Hochul has advocated for Adams’ Albany agenda.  

“It’s a huge diss to Hochul, who has put in a ton of work into building a relationship with the mayor, and he’s running around behind her back meeting with [former] Governor Cuomo — especially at a time when he’s carrying his water on bail, trying to get through mayoral control,” said the veteran communications professional.

“The mayor has a whole host of priorities in Albany, and him running around with the former governor is a massive diss to her.”

Mayoral control will not be included in the budget, legislative sources told The Post last week. The topic hasn’t been discussed in state Senate or Assembly Democratic conferences recently, according to legislative sources. Members told The Post that, despite the mayor’s March 8 press conference making the case for a four-year extension of mayoral control that Hochul promised, Adams hasn’t contacted members to lobby them. 

Added the source, “It’s very disrespectful to Hochul to be running around with Cuomo at a time when she’s trying to pass him priorities in Albany against a reluctant state legislature.”

“Adams doesn’t do anything without a reason,” explained the source. “There’s got to be a reason for it, I just don’t know what it is.”

A former Cuomo staffer countered that it had no clear purpose and was flummoxed by the dinner.

“I don’t understand this. It’s certainly not strategic. I don’t think there’s any strategy at play here,” the source told The Post. “This guy just takes meetings, which is alarming for the mayor, because there should be some filtering going on.”

The former aide posited that Adams has a soft spot for disgraced ex-pols like Cuomo and ex-State Sen. Hiram Monserrate — who infamously slashed a girlfriend in the forehead with a drinking glass and was ousted from the Legislature after the 2010 domestic incident. (Adams in February 2021 publicly broke ties with the ex-con, who in 2012 after pleading guilty to misappropriating public funds during his tenure in the City Council).

“It’s this sort of Eric’s streak of having sympathy for guys like Monserrate and Cuomo. You tell him someone’s canceled and he wants to not obey that,” they said. “He chafes at the notion of ‘cancel culture’ and it’s emblematic of sympathy of guys who have found themselves in this type of situation.”

“It’s interesting for someone who bills himself as tough-on-crime,” the source quipped of the retired NYPD captain.

Erica Vladimer, co-founder of Sexual Harassment Working Group, expressed outrage that Adams is legitimizing a man with a documented history of sexually harassing 11 women.

“I don’t know why an elected official would spend time with a known serial sexual harasser,” she fumed. “Cuomo has not made amends for his harassment.”

“Adams is sending a message that it’s OK to meet with a serial sexual harasser who is trying to make his way back into politics.”

In response to criticism of Adams meeting with the ex-governor, a Cuomo spokesman said five district attorneys declined to bring criminal charges against him.

Cuomo — whose February meal with Adams included the former governor him “advice” and “creative ideas” on reviving the Big Apple’s economy, according to the mayor — has recently reentered the political sphere after months out of it.

In February, the 64-year-old ex-pol began running TV ads in which he claimed he’s been exonerated from the sexual harassment allegations.

Weeks later, Cuomo released a second ad that touted his signature accomplishments, declaring, “I’ve never stopped fighting for New Yorkers, and I never will.”

In early March, Cuomo appeared for the first time in public since stepping down at a Brooklyn church, where he moaned about how “cancel culture” and “political sharks” drove him out of office. During the second public appearance since he stepped down in August under threat of impeachment, Cuomo would not rule out a bid against Hochul — telling reporters he was “not going anywhere” and saying “I am open to all options” when asked if he would run in a Democratic primary against his former lieutenant governor.

Cuomo has also recently had lunch with a former powerful labor union honcho as he considered launching a comeback bid — and with ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

At the Tuesday dinner, in a private embrace of the run-out-of-office fellow Democrat, a source previously told Page Six that Adams “made a beeline to the table where Cuomo was seated, hugging Gov. Cuomo and the other two men at the table.” Shortly after, Adams and Cuomo ate in a private room with the mayor’s chief of staff, Frank Carone.

Longtime political consultant Hank Sheinkopf said Adams’ decision to yet again dine with Cuomo a second time shows he’s independent — but questioned the wisdom of the statement.

“Is it the smartest thing? I’m not sure,” he said. “It’s a way of telling people in Albany he has all kinds of relationships and that he’ll do what he wants.” “Is it a slap at Hochul? It’s a warning to everyone,” he added. “The message is, `I’m an independent man. Work with me or I could go to other places and I’m not afraid of you.’”

In response, a rep for Adams downplayed the meeting with Cuomo and pointed to his public statements that Cuomo should resign issued in the wake of the release of state Attorney General Letitia James’ sexual harassment probe.

“Mayor Adams meets with a lot of former government officials to talk about governance, which is particularly important in these unprecedented times, but the mayor stands by his earlier comments that the former governor should have stepped down, as he did,” said the spokesman, Fabien Levy.

Reps for Hochul declined comment.

Meanwhile, Hochul and state lawmakers are poised to by the end of the week reach a budget deal that will add about $4 billion in additional spending to the governor’s record $216 billion proposal — including the $850 million-plus in state and local taxpayer funds she wants for a new Buffalo Bills stadium, sources told The Post Tuesday.

New York’s overdue fiscal 2023 budget could reach or exceed $220 billion, an increase of $8 billion over fiscal 2022, sources close to the negotiations previously said.

Negotiations on the budget, the deadline for which Hochul and the legislature’s two chambers blew past on Friday, have in recent days been focused on changes to controversial criminal justice reforms enacted in 2019, legalizing more Big Apple casinos and public funding to build a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills.