As the budget debate played out in the state Capitol, the candidates for governor had something of a unifying message: 'I'd do it better.'

It's a quirk of the relatively new political calendar that the budget season is unfolding alongside the nascent campaign season in New York, with voting in the party primaries only a few weeks away. 

On Wednesday, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams criticized the process a whole, calling for lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul to raise more money in taxes to pay for spending in health care, mental health and aid tenants. 

"We have to raise revenue," Williams said. "There's absolutely no way to do the things to protect New Yorkers and not raise revenue." 

Williams, running with the endorsement of the progressive Working Families Party, knocked the money being committed to a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills and a push to sustain a real estate tax break. 

"This budget clearly is the governor trying to figure out what's best for her election," he said. "We need a budget that is best for New Yorkers."

The budget is expected to include a package of criminal justice and public safety measures that address gun crimes and repeat offenses when cash bail is set. Hochul has also called for increases in child care funding and state lawmakers are considering $3 billion in spending. 

But the Bills stadium funding plan has drawn criticism. Announced this week, some lawmakers have grumbled about the use of public money to help build the stadium in western New York, with a state commitment of $850 million. 

Rep. Tom Suozzi called for a public hearing on the stadium issue. 

"We can't do this as part of the budget, this has to be part of a transparent process," Suozzi said at a news conference. 

State budgets as they are being negotiated are often criticized for being drawn up in an insular, closed-door process. Hochul, negotiating her first with state lawmakers, has sought to draw a distinction from her predecessor, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. 

Where drama was stoked in the past, Hochul wants a calmer, more respectful process with lawmakers in the negotiations. 

And while transparency complaints often give way to the actual news of the budget, Suozzi on Wednesday said the closed-door process has bred long-standing problems of corruption in Albany. 

"There's a cultural problem that exists in our state government that comes from a lack of competition," he said, "that comes from a lack of transparency."