Perdido 03

Perdido 03

Friday, July 25, 2014

The Close Ties Between Christie And Cuomo

Zach Fink has more on the close ties between Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo in his State of Politics piece exploring why Christie, as head of the Republican Governors Association, may not be helping GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino against Governor Cuomo in this year's election:

Finally, there is the Cuomo-Christie connection. Astorino raised this on Tuesday, suggesting Cuomo may have helped Christie keep a lid on the Bridgegate scandal by remaining quiet and even claiming he knew nothing about it weeks after his handpicked Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye indentified the lane closures on the Fort Lee side of the GWB as a possible violation of law.  There are other connections between the two neighboring Governors as well. One of Christie’s top political strategists Mike DuHaime is an Partner at Mercury public affairs. Mike McKeon is also an Partner at Mercury, where he once headed up “Republicans for Cuomo” in 2010. McKeon also helped spearhead a “conversation” with Republicans for Governor Cuomo at the Harvard Club earlier this year.

So, the two Governors, who are known to talk frequently on the phone, do have some connections. After being snubbed by Christie in such a heavy-handed and mean-spirited way, it stands to reason that Astorino will no longer be reluctant to point those out going forward.

Last week I posted how Cuomo and Christie used Christie's Port Authority cronies - the same ones involved in Bridgegate - for some political gamesmanship around Port Authority bridge/tunnel toll hikes and a PATH fare increase.

That's another connection the two have - playing games with the Port Authority that are mutually beneficial for them politically.

Zack Fink makes pretty clear in his State of Politics piece that Christie has thrown support to some "lost causes" as head of the RGA, so whatever the reason Christie won't help Astorino now, it has nothing much to do with Astorino being down 37 points.

The more you learn about the ties between Christie and Cuomo, the more you have to think they're helping each other out.

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