Later on Sunday, the governor addressed such post-session analyses, suggesting that they often fell into false “on-one-hand, on-the-other-hand” dichotomies. He added, “However, this year, on one hand it wasn’t perfect, on the other hand it was probably the most successful session in modern history.”

But the inability of Mr. Cuomo and Mr. de Blasio to push through several major initiatives underscored how both men failed to sway a Legislature that seemed ripe for change after the corruption convictions of Sheldon Silver, the former Democratic Assembly speaker, and Dean G. Skelos, the former Republican Senate majority leader.

Mr. Cuomo had pledged to push hard for new ways to clean up Albany, laying out 11 ethics reforms in his speech in January. But only a handful of modest changes were passed by the state’s 239th Legislature. And the most prominent — pension forfeiture for convicted lawmakers — would need to pass the 240th, due here in January, and then be approved by voters. (The earliest enforcement would be in 2018, when Mr. Cuomo will be up for re-election.)

Ethics proposals that failed to get through included bans on outside income — a central feature in Mr. Silver’s conviction — and eliminating the so-called L.L.C. loophole, a source of almost unlimited corporate campaign funds. Mr. Cuomo had offered various solutions on the loophole but did little public campaigning on the subject. A late-session suggestion of eight different bills, including one focused only on the campaign for governor, foundered on the shoals of legislative indifference.

In his first remarks since the end-of-session deal was announced, Mr. Cuomo said that, despite his proposals to close the L.L.C. loophole, it was far-fetched to believe that the Legislature — particularly the Republican lawmakers — would ever agree to it.

“There has to be a dose of reality in the assessment,” the governor said, noting that the issue has been discussed for years. “It is tantamount to political suicide for the Republican Party in this state because they believe it ends corporate money, and only union money would come into the system, which would help the Democrats.”

Mr. Cuomo added that the only way to solve the problem was a constitutional convention. “The people are going to have to do it,” he said.