Governor Pataki spoke in his State of the State speech about “bold, innovative reforms” that will restore public confidence in Albany. Yet he also said, “Let’s work with Mayor Bloomberg and build the sports and convention center on the West Side.”

The two don’t go to together. Pressure is building in Albany to do something concrete about the stadium in advance of a visit to New York next month by officials of the International Olympic Committee, which is considering New York City as the site of the 2012 games. But the process by which the Manhattan land used as a rail yard by the Long Island Rail Road is going to be turned into a stadium is the antithesis of the reforms that Mr. Pataki is talking about.

A study by Common Cause/New York found that Cablevision and Madison Square Garden spent at least $8.2 million lobbying against the stadium last year, while the Jets spent almost $3 million lobbying in favor. The same study found that the owners of Cablevision, Charles and James Dolan, donated $115,300 to various state and city politicians over the last four years, compared with $81,582 from the Jets’ owner, Robert Wood Johnson IV, and its chief executive, L. Jay Cross.

As far as we’re concerned, it’s terrific that these interests are spending money to try to sway public opinion on the issue. It makes for a better debate. But when the spending comes in the form of campaign contributions to politicians or fees to well-connected lobbyists, it is hard to escape the conclusion that both sides in this battle are looking at Albany as a kind of vending machine, in which money goes in and policy comes out. It’s at the point where even the architectural firm for the Jets stadium is ponying up contributions to Mr. Pataki. With $600 million in city and state funds going toward the stadium project, the lobbying costs have the potential to bring a tidy return for the Jets.

It’s not that we are against a stadium or the Olympics. But the Jets’ plan for the site has been adopted by city and state officials without going through even the motions of seeking alternatives. Why not have a request for proposals and an open, transparent bidding process to make sure that there are not other stadium operators or other developers out there who can give the taxpayers a better deal? If the Jets emerge as the victor after such a process, we’ll be the first to congratulate them and to get on the waiting list for season tickets. Mr. Pataki could do more to boost public confidence in Albany by opening the stadium site up to other bidders than by any of the reforms he proposed in his speech.