Two state comptroller race-related e-mails arrived in my in-box this morning within a 10-minute span.

The first, with the subject line “Now is the Time!” came from the Democratic incumbent, Tom DiNapoli. It’s a fundraising appeal, and it’s pretty straightforward:

Dear Friends,

There are 96 days to go until Election Day! In this short time, I will be hard at work traveling our great state, continuing to promote fiscal responsibility, accountability in government, and economic opportunity. I am eager to share my platform with New Yorkers, from Buffalo to Brookhaven. But, I need your help!”

As we gear up our field operations and our advertising efforts at DiNapoli 2010, it is crucial that we build resources. Please make a donation to the campaign today, to ensure that we can reach every voter in New York State. With your support, we will achieve victory this November and deliver the reform that New Yorkers deserve.

Best regards,
Tom DiNapoli

DiNapoli’s lackluster fundraising has been discussed here at some length. As of July 15, he had $1.79 million on hand. His GOP opponent, Harry Wilson, had $2.7 million on hand after raising $1.14 million and lending his campaign $2.3 million.

The second (much longer) e-mail came from Wilson’s campaign. It called on DiNapoli to return “pay-to-profit cash” in the form of some $14,000 received from the law firm of Abbey Spanier Rodd & Abrams LLP, which was hired to help litigate the shareholder lawsuit the comptroller filed against Bank of America.

The WSJ’s Jacob Gershman reports the firm’s partners gave DiNapoli the camapign cash on July 13-14. The suit in question was filed in July 22 – and announced with much fanfare by the comptroller’s office.

According to Wilson’s campaign, DiNapoli has accepted at least $129,750 from a half dozen securities plaintiffs attorneys whom he tapped to represent New York in class action cases. All told, he has received at least $370,000 from securities plaintiffs attorneys as of the July filing.

“The Office of the State Comptroller has been mired in controversy for too long,” Wilson said.

“What these contributions suggest is that the pay-to-profit culture that we saw in Alan Hevesis administration unfortunately continues under Mr. DiNapoli, just in a different form.”

“Whether political contributions come from money managers about to receive investments from the pension fund or trial attorneys who stand to gain from lawsuits filed by the comptroller, the practice is unethical.”

“Both types of groups should be subject to similar restrictions, as our ethics reform proposal made clear. Mr. DiNapoli should return the money immediately and there should be an investigation into these large donations from parties with such a huge financial stake in the comptroller’s office”.

UPDATE: DiNapoli’s campaign spokesman Eric Sumberg e-mailed the following response:

“No candidate, in either party, has more strict campaign donation standards than Comptroller DiNapoli. No donation influences the work that he does in that role.”

“This political hit job obscures the larger point: If Hedge Fund Harry Wilson were serious about reform, he shouldn’t have opposed President Obama’s financial reform proposal which promoted transparency and reined in many of the Wall Street abuses that helped him make the millions of dollars he is pouring into his campaign.”

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