One of the most perplexing questions in New York’s politics today is that of why two of the top politicians in New York state, Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg, Republicans both, have been doing so little to stand up for a major New York institution: the New York Stock Exchange. As regulators such as Alan Hevesi, and assorted other do-gooders, hover, waiting to make their move after the scandal at the stock exchange, the governor and the mayor have sat silent. This as one of the bedrocks of the city’s and state’s economy is menaced with meddling that could push capital, jobs, and tax dollars out of state.

In general, New York’s elected officials, who regularly take positions on everything from Middle East affairs to the size and shape of storefront signs, are being uncharacteristically quiet. Even Attorney General Spitzer, who has crusaded against Wall Street, has stayed on the sidelines in this fight. The only one to raise a peep — and a loud peep it has been — is the state’s comptroller, Mr. Hevesi. Mr. Hevesi is pressing for big changes in the way the board operates. Primarily, he is pushing the idea that the problem with the New York Stock Exchange is that it needs to be run by someone other than its owners. Specifically, he has himself in mind for the job.

One would think the governor and mayor would be protecting the exchange from such meddling. In a letter to The New York Sun last month, Mr. Hevesi insisted that he had the best interests of the stock exchange at heart. “As a representative of millions of investors and millions of New Yorkers, a strong NYSE is my goal,” wrote Mr. Hevesi. But are New Yorkers do the exchange’s owners — its 1,366 members, the specialists, brokers, and traders — have a different goal? It seems doubtful.

The recent difficulties at the exchange hardly call for more oversight from Mr. Hevesi, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or anyone else. The executive compensation scandal relating to Richard Grasso did not come about for lack of do-gooders on the board. The problem with Mr. Grasso’s pay was not that it was too generous, but that it was not in the interests of the exchange’s owners. This is evidenced by the fact that Mr. Grasso was shown the door when the owners woke up to just what was being done with their money.

As for the issue of separating out the exchange’s “regulatory” functions from other functions, this also seems unnecessary. The organization has worked quite well since it was founded in 1792; it operated for about 180 years as an unincorporated membership organization. What’s kept it honest is not a lack of conflicts of interest, but the fact that if it weren’t honest, people would take their business elsewhere. The exchange could have decided that it’s okay to let crooked traders get away with swindling investors, or they could have chosen to be secretive and opaque, but the owners know their livelihood hinges on running a market preferable to the competition. There are, after all, other stock exchanges, such as the Nasdaq and the American.

New York will not remain the financial capital of the world simply because it is New York. As authors Jonathan Bowles and Joel Kotkin wrote in a study put out by the Center for an Urban Future, the number of New York-based Fortune 500 companies keeps dropping. In 2002, there were 39, down from 42 in 1999 and 140 in 1955. Not one of America’s top 20 retailers has its headquarters in New York, which used to be the retail capital. Furthermore, New York’s share of the securities industry is dwindling. According to the Securities Industry Association, New York City’s share of securities industry jobs has fallen to 23.9% from 32.1%. Mr. Hevesi is set to attack. Mr. Spitzer is unlikely to step in on the side of the captains of the securities industry. But where are Messrs. Pataki and Bloomberg?