An invitation was posted on the NLOA website until shortly after City Hall called Anthony Miranda to ask about the role that the 501(c)4 non-profit has in his run for office against Assembly Member Jeff Aubry. Where the invitation was until Wednesday afternoon, there is now just the simple message: “The National Latino Officers Assoc. Supports Anthony Miranda for the NYS 35th Assembly District of Queens, New York City,” and directing people to Miranda’s campaign website.

The Niagara County Republican Committee is poised to announce its endorsement of Carl Paladino for governor, flipping its support from the GOP designee, according to multiple Western New York sources.

The 600,000-member strong New York State United Teachers is poised to boot 30 state lawmakers from its endorsement list this year, which it says is a response to an unprecedented level of anger and frustration among the membership. Many of those not receiving the union’s nod this year had been endorsed in previous years.

Following through on the Paterson administration’s pledge to collect taxes on tobacco products sold on Indian reservations, the state Department of Taxation and Finance issued a memo Thursday formalizing the process touted the effort as a sign of the governor’s commitment to collecting the tax. But some legislators accused Gov. David Paterson of continuing to blow smoke, not going far enough.

Ask anyone on Wall Street to host a fundraiser for a Democrat in New York these days, expect a blank stare. Ask any Democrat to accept a donation from someone working for a bank, investment firm or hedge fund, and expect the same reaction. Cancelled fundraisers, unreturned phone calls, dire predictions of the end of New York as the national campaign finance ATM. Do the New York Democrats have a Wall Street problem?

Twelve-term Assembly Member Barbara Clark is counting on her old friends Gloria Black and Warrington Canston, two state committee members from Clark’s district in Southeast Queens, to help her win another term in office this year. And she did not let the fact that both Black and Canston are apparently dead deter her from putting their names at the top of her petitions.

The race to succeed Adriano Espaillat in the Assembly, a crowded field featuring no less than eight candidates, is in danger of being overshadowed by Miguel Martinez, the disgraced former City Council member who ran against Espaillat in the 2008 primary for the seat.

Andrew Cuomo’s call for new legislation to address the “pension padding” of state workers dramatically increasing their overtime hours in the final few years of employment is not necessary, says State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.

By now, almost everyone has heard the rumors of Hiram Monserrate's comeback. Volunteers have allegedly been spotted collecting signatures for the disgraced former lawmaker around his Queens district, as the former Council member and expelled state senator angles for the Assembly seat held by Jos%u9810eralta, the man now in the Senate seat he fought hard to win.

In the run-up to the late-night budget handshake between Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council, a remarkable thing happened: everyone got along.