For years, the New York League of Conservation Voters has lobbied for environmental bills behind the scenes.

But as those efforts were frustrated for yet another year, the activist
group is evolving into a serious political action committee. Now the league is spending thousands of dollars on local races in hopes of getting politicians' loyalty through cold, hard cash.

"Nothing talks like money," said spokesman Dan Hendrick.

For years, the New York Citybased league didn't spend much. In many years, it didn't have much to spend, even if it had wanted to. Leaders focused instead on developing what they considered good legislation, and then tried to talk politicians into supporting it.
"Every year we develop a legislative agenda for the state: Smart growth, bigger better bottle bill, brownfields," Hendrick said. "Overall, nothing really. Well, it was a very modest year for the environment in Albany."

He said his group planned this year's campaign because its constituents are sick of politicians "paying lip service" on environmental issues. "They'll talk about it but there are other issues out there, other groups spending money," he said.

To compete, league leaders fi nally decided they had to spend money too. This fall they raised $60,000 for the campaign. They're spending "in the fi ve figures" on three races, supporting Sche- nectady Mayor Brian U. Stratton, a Democrat; Yonkers Mayor Philip Amicone, a Republican;  and Brookhaven town Supervisor Brain X. Foley, a Democrat.

"We are showing that we have money, that we are spending it and we will follow through to make sure elected officials actually live up to their promises," Hendrick said. "In other words, we are showing that people  interested in clean air and water are a force to be reckoned with."

PARTISAN GAME

It's a strategy that usually works, said Russ Haven of the New York Public Interest Research Group. "It's the way the game of politics is played," he said. "It's about money, energizing your membership and moving people on election day."

But he warned that they run the risk of angering politicians who win
despite their efforts. "NYPIRG is nonpartisan and doesn't endorse candidates, so we're able to work on both sides of the aisle," Haven said. "What they may lose is, you make enemies of a different quality when you work on campaigns. It will change the dynamic for them."

The league may find that out first-hand next year, when it enters the state Senate races. The league hopes to prove itself this fall so that politicians consider it powerful enough to court during the 2008 election. For that fight, the league has another $124,500 in the bank, according to their latest Board of Elections filing in late October. They hope to quadruple their money by summer.

"We can demonstrate to them that the voters are actually voting on these issues. We know a lot of things happen in an election year and we want to make sure the environment happens," Hendrick said.

League Executive Director Marcia Bystryn said the league is also genuinely hoping the city leaders it endorsed this year will create significant environmental policies.

"We've become convinced, through our efforts with Mayor Bloomberg in New York, that some of the most innovative action on climate change can happen in the cities," she said.

But she needs the state government to fund brownfield cleanup, create a power-plant siting law and make other sweeping changes. "This is a warm-up, quite frankly," she said of this year's campaign. "We 're going to be active in the spring laying out a public education campaign as a prelude to being active in key Senate races."

The league picked the Senate because they expect a number of competitive races as the Democrats try to wrest control from the Republicans. "Let me put it right out there, we are not interested in Senate races because we have any particular interest in who controls the Senate," Bystryn said. "We're nonpartisan and very proud of that."

But most of the league's endorsements, statewide, have gone to Democrats. Bystryn said they have just chosen the candidates who had the best proven records for environmentalism.

She added that she'd willingly support the candidates' opposition if her candidates win but fail to act on the environment. "We would probably play an aggressive role in working with someone to replace them," she said. "Democrat or Republican or independent.