Wow – rare that advocacy groups aren’t up in arms over something. The honeymoon will over soon enough. The standard that’s being applied here is wonderfully double. There are probably more political leaders in Albany than care to be counted who wish they could get a pass like this on their own ethical issues. Rest assured – some enterprising legislator will introduce a bill soon enough that will prohibit such spending from campaign funds. And the then advocacy groups will weigh in – albeit quietly.

Governor Paterson’s use of campaign funds to pay for hotels, clothing, and services is being dissected by the press but appears to be escaping the scrutiny of the state’s official investigatory bodies.Lawmakers and advocacy groups have been largely muted on the matter as well, while almost every new day of Mr. Paterson’s nascent administration brings a fresh round of questions about his use of campaign donations. A Republican senator who is chairman of the Investigations Committee, George Winner, said Republican lawmakers have not discussed the possibility of investigating Mr. Paterson’s use of campaign money.

A professor of political science at Baruch College, Douglas Muzzio, said there is a real reluctance in political circles to call off the honeymoon that greeted Mr. Paterson on his first day in office and a fear among elected officials that if the new governor is put under a microscope for his campaign expenditures, Albany lawmakers could soon face the same scrutiny.

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