State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has picked up the endorsement of the State Island Democrats, bringing his tally of city party organizations to three.

“Tom DiNapoli brings energetic and trusted leadership to a tough job during difficult times,” Staten Island Democratic Chairman John Gulino said in a statement released by the comptroller’s campaign.

“He rises above the politics of the moment and stays focused on the tasks at hand: protecting taxpayers and helping to build a more secure financial future for New York State.”

“Tom DiNapoli is a hard-working guy who doesn’t forget his middle class roots, and he knows that every dime counts – especially when they’re taxpayer dimes – so we trust him to do what’s right for Staten Island.”

DiNapoli also already has the backing of the Bronx and Brooklyn Democratic parties.

At this point, the endorsement announcement game is merely symbolic for the comptroller, since he doesn’t have a primary opponent and is therefore a lock on the nomination at the party’s upcoming convention in Rye.

That doesn’t mean DiNapoli’s campaign will be stopping with the endorsement press releases any time soon, however, since they serve to send a message that the party and its allies (in labor, for example) are unified behind the comptroller’s first statewide campaign.

That’s a good thing for DiNapoli, since he has been unable to escape the scrutiny of AG Andrew Cuomo, who recently revealed his pay-to-play state pension fund probe has expanded to include at least one meeting held on the current comptroller’s watch.

Cuomo, who is pushing for the sole trusteeship of the pension fund to be changed to a board oversight system, has so far refused to endorse DiNapoli’s bid to keep the office to which he was elevated by his legislative colleagues in 2007.

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