Anti-Pricing Lawmakers Dismayed by Potential Backlash

What has irked some lawmakers is what they saw as a threat in the cover letter accompanying the questionnaire. In the letter, the league said it would use its new political action committee, Climate Action, to support candidates who advanced the group's agenda. Some legislators said they viewed that as a veiled warning that the league would use the money it raised through its committee to defeat candidates who opposed Mayor Bloomberg, above, and his congestion pricing plan.

The league or its political action committee "has the right to contribute to any candidate it wants," wrote Jeffrey Dinowitz, a Democratic assemblyman from the Bronx, "but I am deeply troubled by the very clear implication that a candidate will be rewarded or punished based upon a legislator casting a specific vote the way you would want it cast."

Mr. Warren, who said he did not know how many legislators had respondedto the league’s questionnaire, added that the league was dissatisfiedwith the Legislature’s environmental record lately. “There’s afrustration on our part and on the part of a lot of other environmentalorganizations,” he said.