Multiple high-ranking Albany officials confirmed over the weekend that the state will rescind the 40-year, no-bid contract granted to Maid of the Mist tour boat operator James Glynn and allow competitive bidding for docking rights in the lower Niagara River below the falls.

The news comes on the heels of a similar decision by the Ontario government, which recently threw out Glynn's 25-year lease on that side of the river.

"It's dead," said one Albany newsmaker. "This has reached the governor's office now; it's not something that can be handled locally."

Since 1972, when Glynn took control of the popular tourist attraction, the details of his New York and Ontario contracts have always been kept secret. Over the years, many attempts have been made to get copies of the contracts under the various freedom of information laws of both the United States and Canada, requests that were routinely denied.

Because the New York and Ontario contracts do not run concurrently, parks officials in both countries have long been able to claim that Glynn is the "sole-source provider" of the attraction, based on the fact that he held the contract in the other country. This dodge grew increasingly thin as other potential operators went public with their outrage over their inability to bid on the lucrative concession.

New York State Parks spokeswoman Angela Berti said publicly on several occasions that whoever has the Ontario lease must also have the New York lease. Last week, she privately told anyone who would listen that the Glynn contract is doomed.

The reasons for keeping the lease agreements secret became painfully obvious in March and April of this year when Niagara Falls Reporter columnist Frank Parlato obtained copies of the documents.

In Ontario, the sweetheart deal caused a scandalous sensation that led to bitter accusations on the floor of Parliament. But in New York, where the terms of Glynn's lease are far worse, both elected officials and the media fell strangely mute.

Although the scandal has been covered extensively in The Globe and Mail of Toronto and has even made headlines in The New York Times, the Niagara Gazette and Buffalo News have all but ignored the situation.

In fact, it wasn't until William Windsor -- whose company, Alcatraz Media, is involved in the operation of tour boat rides around the country -- sued the governor's office, the state attorney general's office, New York State Parks, former parks commissioner Ed Rutkowski and Glynn two weeks ago that the Gazette published its first staff-written piece on the fiasco.

The News ignored even that.

Over on the Ontario side of the river, staff writer Corey Laroque has done his best to uphold Glynn's interests in The Niagara Falls Review. Laroque's boss, Andrea Kriluck, is the wife of Canadian attorney Marv Kriluck, who represents the embattled Ontario parks commissioners Jim Williams and Archie Katzman.

Williams and Katzman were named by former commissioner Bob Gale as being primarily responsible for pushing the Glynn lease through earlier this year.

Along the Niagara Frontier, it has been left up to the Reporter to keep readers -- many of whom are subsidizing Glynn's Maid of the Mist moneymaker with their state taxes -- informed on the rapidly changing situation.

Readers were stunned to learn, for example, that Glynn actually gets paid by the state to run his boats, contrary to the generally accepted practice of the renter paying the landlord for the exclusive right to occupy a given space. Last year, Glynn received $586,300 from the New York state, along with the more than $6 million he raked in from the tourists who take his boat ride.

In today's dollars, the unprecedented 40-year, no-bid contract he was given by the state in 2002 should net him more than $260 million. On the Ontario side, the take is roughly the same, but there he pays between 15 percent and 5.5 percent, depending on how much he makes. As in New York, the Parks Commission in Ontario awarded the contract, for 25 years, without the benefit of competitive bidding.

Why are these government agencies operating in the shadows? Why were the lease agreements kept as state secrets for nearly four decades until the Reporter was able to shine a light on them?

A private report by the Canadian auditing firm of KMPG found ethical breaches, gaps in record keeping, missing documents and conflicts of interest between commissioners and businesses that provide park services. The audit itself was kept secret, but was released by the Ontario government following a freedom of information request.

A major shakeup of the Ontario Parks Commission is expected, as the report concludes that maintaining the status quo is not an option.

Alcatraz Media and Ripley's have been out front on expressing a desire to bid on the Maid of the Mist contracts, and promise better service and substantially increased revenues for both the New York and Ontario parks commissions. Other tourism companies said to be interested in the bidding include Entertainment Cruises, Campark, Xanterra, Disney and the Seneca Nation of Indians.

These potential bidders have discussed evening dinner cruises under the lighted falls, having at least some of the boats enclosed to allow for a far longer season than the current Memorial Day to Labor Day operation, and the inclusion of on-board restrooms and other comfort facilities, which would go a long way toward bringing the antiquated operation up to 21st-century tourism standards.

And along with the improved service, spokesmen for at least two of the companies have said that the governments involved will see a substantial increase in revenue over what Glynn is currently paying, or not paying, as the case may be.

In New York, the fact that the Alcatraz lawsuit reached Gov. David Paterson's desk just as he is wrestling with a $4 billion state deficit is significant, our Albany sources said.

"The governor is looking to cut costs and increase revenues anyplace he can," one said. "The fact that the state parks are actually losing money under the current (Maid of the Mist) contract has absolutely grabbed his attention."