Ken Lovett and Casey Seiler are reporting at Capitol Confidential Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino, the county executive in Westchester, received more than $900,000 in campaign donations from dozens of companies that received county contracts, according to a report released by the state Democratic Committee, Tues., Sept. 30. The committee's report revealed 47 companies, their principals, and subsidiaries that gave to Astorino’s campaigns since 2009 received a combined 236 contracts worth $709 million. The report looks only at money flowing from the companies and not from their principals or related individuals. The Republican’s campaign has regularly tweaked Cuomo’s administration for actions that benefit the governor’s largest donors. In other campaign news, Rick Karlin is reporting Republican Assembly member Steve McLaughlin last week sent a letter to fellow GOP members in both the Assembly and Senate. Basically, McLaughlin, who has been an outspoken critic of Cuomo, is dismayed by the reluctance of his fellow Republicans to back Astorino. In the letter, McLaughlin lays out a 13-point bill of particulars about why Republicans should not be backing the Democrat incumbent, from the SAFE Act gun control law, to Cuomo’s vow to help put the state Senate into Democratic hands. Read both stories at Capitol Confidential, a Times Union blog.