Cuomo watch: New focus on lobby group

As a flushly-funded war chest that promotes the positions of an elected official, the Committee to Save New York has been loosely compared to a super PAC like those now emerging in national election races.

More exactly, the committee was identified as the state's biggest-spending lobby group in 2011, shelling out more than $10 million in support of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's governmental agenda. Many saw its expenditures as effectively blunting ads from unions critical of the governor.

The group also touted Cuomo's plan to expand casino gambling as an economic-development goal. Now the committee is drawing more attention and discussion, given the $2 million it received from racinos -- the horse tracks with video slot machines, such as Aqueduct, operated by the Malaysian casino giant Genting Berhad.

-- Yancey Roy