Just how far is Mayor Bloomberg willing to go to get the Jets Stadium built on Manhattan’s West Side? Speaker Silver got a sense of the answer last week. The assemblyman’s Lower Manhattan district was the beneficiary of an extraordinary commitment of more than $800 million of taxpayers’ money – money to be extracted from the paychecks of working New Yorkers and other Americans – for a redevelopment plan unveiled on Wednesday by Mr. Bloomberg and Governor Pataki. Mr. Bloomberg returned the next day with some flattering words about the assemblyman, and, for good measure, an announcement about a new condo project.

Mr. Silver is mulling how to cast the vote that will help determine the fate of Mr. Bloomberg’s pet West Side stadium. On Friday, the Public Authorities Control Board – on which Mr. Silver holds one of three voting seats – will decide whether to approve public financing (meaning, taxpayer financing) for the project. It’s a crucial vote, because on Monday the International Olympic Committee is set to release a report comparing the cities vying to host the 2012 games in the run-up to its formal decision in July. It’s great political drama. Too bad taxpayers are being forced to foot the bill for the expensive effort to woo – at taxpayers’ expense – Mr. Silver.

Messrs. Bloomberg and Pataki have said, in announcing the $800 million payout of money extracted from the taxpayers, that their motives are entirely pure; they say they are merely spending the remaining federal – that is, taxpayers’ – money in the coffers of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. But it’s suspicious that this spending of taxpayers’ money is coming so close to Mr. Silver’s vote. Even if the mayor and governor’s motives are as pure as driven Ivory snowflakes, there’s a public perception of a linkage. “Gold – and Silver: Will Shelly OK Stadium?” and “Bloomberg Provides More Silver Service” were examples of how some of the headline writers at the city’s dailies interpreted the mayor’s sudden burst of interest in allocating for downtown development money extracted from the taxpayers.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see Mr. Silver and the mayor milk the taxpayers for more of their money for Mr. Silver’s district by keeping his vote up for sale – sorry, up for political negotiation – all the way till the 2016 Olympics. It seems to have paid off so far, in taxpayers’ money. We’re not suggesting any of this is illegal, and it’s hard to think of anything significant that’s been accomplished in New York politics that didn’t involve some political horse-trading. Still, the amount of taxpayers’ money involved here is starting to get pretty big, even for New York.

There’s already $300 million of state money (i.e., money taxpayers have been forced to present to the state) and $300 million of city money (i.e., money that taxpayers have been forced to pony up to the city) that would go to the stadium. A recent analysis by the National Taxpayers Union said New York taxpayers, already the most burdened in the nation, could ultimately be on the hook for up to $1.3 billion of their own money in stadium subsidies. That’s not counting the taxpayer money the politicians are spending to try to buy Mr. Silver’s vote. The more costs (i.e., outlays of taxpayers’ money) that get piled onto this project, the harder it is going to be in the end to justify to the taxpayers – i.e., voters – how the costs are exceeded by the benefits.