Republican candidate for governor Rob Astorino doesn’t approve of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s recent appearances with Gov. Cuomo to discuss security.
“I’m not so sure why Gov. Christie would want to be hanging out with Gov. Cuomo,” Astorino told Time Warner Cable News after an appearance in Kingston. “The governor is under investigation by federal prosecutors for corruption.”
“So I am not so sure why he would want to do that and he’s not the Democratic Governors Association president,” Astorino said. “He’s the RGA president, but that’s his choice.”
What Astorino didn't mention here but I think is relevant - Christie himself is under criminal investigation for the Bridgegate mess, alleged extortion of the mayor of Hoboken by his lieutenant governor in a Shop Rite parking lot and conflicts of interest involving former members of his administration and the Port Authority.
Cuomo can't help with the Hoboken extortion or the conflicts of interest problem with the Port Authority, but he surely has helped with the Bridgegate mess.
As Fred Dicker noted a few months ago:
One of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s jobs as this year’s head of the Republican Governors Association is to help elect more GOP governors, but don’t tell that to people working on Astorino’s campaign.
“Chris Christie has done diddly squat to help the Astorino folks,’’ said a highly knowledgeable Republican insider.
“Either Christie has formed an unholy alliance with Cuomo in the aftermath of the Bridgegate scandal or he’s preoccupied with running for president. Either way, New York Republicans are noticing it and they’re unhappy about it,’’ the insider continued.
Last fall The Post disclosed that Christie had encouraged Astorino to challenge Cuomo and pledged his support — but that was before the politically damaging Bridgegate — which involved closing down George Washington Bridge lanes in Fort Lee to retaliate against a Christie political foe.
A prominent New York Democratic operative, meanwhile, told The Post, “The word on the inside of Democratic circles is that Christie has been working to help Cuomo, perhaps by providing some strategic advice.’’
Cuomo and Christie are on the same team here - as I wrote back in July:
We know that Cuomo and Christie have collaborated at least two times in an "unholy alliance" of Port Authority governors.
The first was the sham show they played over bridge, tunnel and PATH increases in which they colluded to push for the increases behind the scenes while publicly claiming they were trying to hold the increases at bay.
The second was when Christie called Cuomo over the Bridgegate scandal, as was first reported in the Wall Street Journal.
We know too that nothing happens at the Port Authority, even on the New Jersey side, that Andrew Cuomo isn't aware of.
And we know that Cuomo has some complicity in the Bridgegate case.
It gets more and more clear that they're working together for their mutual benefit - the anti-terrorism task force shenanigans is the latest example.
Sure it's important they work to keep their respective states safe - but that can all be done without the high profile (and multiple) press conferences.
Christie and Cuomo were already hooked up during Sandy if I remember correctly.
ReplyDeletePort Authority toll/PATH fare collusion came before that.
Delete