It was only a matter of time before the Wall Street bailout became fodder for local races.

Today, Democratic State Senate candidate Rick Dollinger called a press conference to talk about the money that some financial firms have given to Senate Republicans. Some of that, he reasons, trickled down to his opponent, Republican Senator Joe Robach.

By his campaign's calculations, Senate Republicans got close to $1 million from firms like AIG, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and JP Morgan Chase over the last nine years. At the same time, the Senate passed bills that gave Wall Street firms $2.5 billion in tax breaks, Dollinger says. But they've relaxed regulations that would make the firms more accountable, he says.

When asked, Dollinger dismissed the idea that Senate Republicans get the contributions because they are in the majority and he acknowledged that Senate Dems get contributions from these firms, too, just on a� smaller scale. If his party controlled the Senate, Dollinger said, they probably wouldn't get much from Wall Street because they'd impose more oversight.

Goldman Sachs has given heavily to Assembly Democrats. Democrats have the majority in the State Assembly.