Christie Quiet on Cuomo’s Woes

Republican Gov. Chris Christie is refusing to comment on his New York Democratic counterpart’s recent troubles or their impact on the Republican candidate trying to unseat him.

Christie swatted back questions from reporters Friday on allegations Gov. Andrew Cuomo improperly interfered with a corruption panel he convened.

“I’m not commenting on criminal investigations that are ongoing. I’m just not. So stop asking,” he said.

He said he hated it when politicians weighed in on the work he was doing when he was a federal prosecutor and had no intention of repeating their mistakes.

“It was irresponsible for them to do it to me, and I’m not joining in the irresponsibility no matter how many times you ask,” he said. Cuomo has also been tight-lipped about the state and federal probes into Christie aide’s blocking the George Washington Bridge as political retribution.

Republican challenger Rob Astorino has called the allegations a game-changer in his bid to unseat Cuomo. But Christie, who chairs the Republican Governors Association, reiterated the comments he made last month that he has no plans to help Astorino.

“I really can’t comment on Rob Astorino any longer,” he said. “I mean the fact is he’s down 37 points in the polls. I was just acknowledging what you all have acknowledged in what you’ve written. I wish him the best of luck.”

A reporter asked whether that meant Christie doesn’t “have the juice to make that a closer race?”

“No, no, I don’t,” he said. “I don’t have the juice to take a 37-point race and make it a competitive one. You know who has the juice to do that? The candidate. And at the end of the day, candidates are responsible for their races.”

This article appeared in print on page 8 of the August 4th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.