Add another endorsement to the pile for Democratic State Senate candidate Rick Dollinger. He's now got the backing of influential, and controversial, Assembly member David Gantt. Expect that to both help and hurt him.

It all depends on which Gantt - the advocate or the obstructionist - voters associate with Dollinger.

Gantt's got a strong and loyal city base and will give Dollinger some pull. His support, too, will boost Dollinger's profile. Incumbent Republican Joe Robach has a knack for being in the right place at the right time, often with state funds in hand.

Announcing his endorsement, Gantt said that Senate Republicans blocked bills he sponsored on lead paint abatement and that Robach held up legislation he sponsored for a school renovation project. Dollinger, he said, would work with the Assembly.

"I think it's all about reform," Gantt said.

But Gantt himself has been pegged as part of the Albany problem. In June, some of the state's daily newspapers went nuts over his position on traffic light cameras. The state's largest cities wanted them, but Gantt had opposed them. In June, however, he submitted legislation to permit the cameras as long as they made use of a certain technology. And the company that developed the technology just happened to employ a Gantt associate as a lobbyist - a connection first pointed out by the Buffalo News.

"It makes no sense for one upstate legislator to strangle progress - and safety - in New York City," said a New York Times editorial. Gantt should be replaced as Transportation Committee chair, which he controls with an "iron fist," the Times said.