Today In Both Siderism

No, I haven’t been suddenly demonically possesssed by David Broder or any of the fatuous news readers of the Village Media, nor do I mean it in a good way.

The fact is that the Neoliberal Elite, as a Class encompassing both Political Parties, is inherently interested in advancing the Neoliberal Agenda (rent seeking protectionist monopoly markets; transfer of wealth from the poorest to richest; pandering paternalism and division by race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, whatever, to infantilize the 99% and render them powereless; etc.).

They are equally interested in maintaining their illusions and delusions of superiority by covering up the spitefulness, bigotry, blunders, and core incompetency of the other members of their Class (they have Class Conciousness, the 99% does not).

Case in point- Andrew Cuomo, supposed Democrat, conspiring to hide the criminal behavior of Chris Christie, Republican, in the Fort Lee/George Washington Bridge closing scandal.

Ex-Ally of Christie Links Cuomo to Cover-Up of Lane Closings
By KATE ZERNIKE, The New York Times
OCT. 4, 2016

The man who has admitted orchestrating the mysterious lane closings at the George Washington Bridge in 2013 testified on Tuesday that he was told that Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York had agreed to falsely explain the closings as part of a traffic study to try to “put an end” to a growing scandal surrounding them.

The confessed culprit, David Wildstein, testified that he had heard from two top Christie appointees at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the bridge, that the governors had hoped to stop the catastrophic traffic jams caused by the lane closings from hurting Mr. Christie’s re-election campaign.

I’m going to stop right there and point out that Andrew Cuomo personally orchestrated the return of Republicans to power in the New York State Senate because he was afraid the legislation coming out of Albany would be “too liberal” for his corporate paymasters and he would be forced to veto it and expose himself as nothing more that a Conservative in Democratic clothing. I bet his father Mario is so proud of his Quisling son.

Mr. Wildstein, who is cooperating with federal prosecutors in the trial of two former Christie aides accused of approving and directing the lane-closing scheme, agreed that Mr. Cuomo had told the Port Authority’s executive director to “stand down” from trying to publicly blame Mr. Christie and his aides for the closings, at least until Mr. Christie had won re-election in November 2013.
…
Mr. Christie, a Republican, and Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, have previously denied that such a conversation occurred. Both have said they had no role in covering up the cause of the lane closings.

The testimony by Mr. Wildstein, a former Christie administration official at the Port Authority, left open the possibility that Mr. Cuomo did not know the true reason for the closings. Mr. Wildstein has said they were meant to punish a mayor who did not endorse Mr. Christie’s re-election.

Actually- it didn’t. See below.

But Mr. Wildstein testified previously that Mr. Christie knew about the closings and their punitive intent as they happened, and that the governor laughed when he heard about the traffic jam and that the mayor’s calls about public safety risks were being ignored.
…
Mr. Wildstein testified that top officials in the governor’s office and David Samson, Mr. Christie’s appointee as Port Authority chairman, had decided that New Jersey officials at the agency would write a report trying to legitimize the traffic study story. The report, Mr. Wildstein said, would seek to dismiss the mayor’s complaints by saying there had been a “failure of communication.”

Mr. Christie’s office would review the report, he said, and the authority’s executive director, Patrick J. Foye, appointed by Mr. Cuomo, would approve it.
…
Mr. Foye knew the lane closings were not related to a traffic study, and at least one of his staff members had called reporters to say so, generating intense coverage of the closings and why they happened.

But Mr. Foye agreed to sign off on the report, Mr. Wildstein said in court on Tuesday, as long as New Jersey took responsibility.

“My understanding at the time was that this would put an end to this issue,” Mr. Wildstein testified, referring to the report by the two governors.

“Pat Foye would sign off on a false report?” Ms. Kelly’s lawyer, Michael Critchley, asked him.

“Yes, sir, that was my understanding,” Mr. Wildstein said.

“And that was a result of conversations with Cuomo and Christie?” Mr. Critchley said.

“Yes, sir,” Mr. Wildstein said.

Mr. Cuomo’s office, Mr. Wildstein said, had told Mr. Foye to “lay off Christie.”
…
Mr. Wildstein also testified that Mr. Baroni told him that Kevin O’Dowd, Mr. Christie’s chief of staff, had had a conversation with his counterpart in Mr. Cuomo’s office, Lawrence S. Schwartz, in which they agreed that Mr. Foye, who had also been invited to testify at that hearing, would not.

Mr. Wildstein said he was also told by Mr. Christie’s spokesman, Michael Drewniak, that he had briefed Mr. O’Dowd on what New Jersey officials took to be Mr. Foye’s meddling in their business.

Ms. Kelly’s lawyer asked what that meant.

“That Governor Christie was in the middle of an election, that Mr. Foye was becoming involved and could potentially hurt Governor Christie, and that Mr. O’Dowd now understood and had reached out to Albany to get Foye to back off,” Mr. Wildstein replied.

Bridgegate testimony: Christie and Cuomo considered releasing false report
Associated Press
Tuesday 4 October 2016 15.30 EDT

David Wildstein, who pleaded guilty in the gridlock scheme and is cooperating with prosecutors, said the former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey chairman David Samson told him the governors discussed the idea in October 2013. The report would have attributed the lane closures to a traffic study, covering up the true reason for the closures: political retribution against the mayor of Fort Lee for failing to endorse Christie’s 2013 re-election, Wildstein testified.
…
“My understanding was that [Republican] Governor Christie and [Democratic] Governor Cuomo had discussed this,” Wildstein said under cross-examination on Tuesday, according to the Record, adding he was told the information by Samson. “My understanding at the time was that it would put an end to this issue.”

It’s not the only reason Andrew Cuomo should resign in shame, but it’s a damn good one.