The Rules Committee of the state GOP is scheduled to meet late this afternoon at the Sheraton with lots of thorny issues to work out on the eve of the party’s nominating convention, including the order of Wednesday’s gubernatorial vote.

One idea under consideration is holding the Wilson Pakula authorization vote prior to the nomination in the governor’s race – a move that theoretically could be very bad for Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy.

The Wilson Pakula threshold for anyone not enrolled in the party who wants to run on the line, as you’ll recall, is just over 50 percent of the weighted convention vote – more than twice the 25 percent necessary for party members to get onto the ballot.

It’s widely accepted that Levy is somewhere in the mid-30 percent range at this point, which is far short of the Wilson Pakula mark.

If the WP vote is held first, it will be what one strategist decribed as a “test vote” for Levy – and his biggest champion, state GOP Chairman Ed Cox – both of whom have confidently predicted the party-switching county executive will receive sufficient support at the convention to get onto the ballot.

The Levy camp says some backers of Rick Lazio, who is claiming just over 50 percent of the vote at this point, say they’ll cast their first ballot for the former Long Island congressman, but then vote “yes” on the WP, thereby authorizing a primary fight.

But they won’t get the chance to hedge their bets like that if all sides agree to the put-your-cards-on-the-table method of holding the WP vote first.

Apparently, this is something Carl Paladino’s camp is pushing very hard, thinking that once Levy is clearly not getting onto the ballot, his supporters will gravitate to the Buffalo businessman (if they don’t opt to support the newest candidate, M. Myers Mermel).

A Lazio source said it’s “unlikely” this option will be agreed to, but it was still alive as of late this morning when I was reporting it.

Representatives of all the candidates are expected to attend the Rules Committee meeting later today. Said the Lazio source: “We’ll meet and we’ll see what everyone’s opinion is, and then we’ll decide.”

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