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.

That the speaker of the Senate, Joseph Bruno, a Republican, would become the acting governor if Mr. Paterson resigns or is forced from office also is keeping Democrats quiet, he said.

“Not only would partisan Democrats not want this, but I don’t think the electorate would want this either,” Mr. Muzzio said. Mr. Bruno is under investigation by the FBI for his outside business work.

Last week an official from the state Board of Elections said the office had not received a complaint about Mr. Paterson’s use of campaign funds, a requirement for the board to begin an inquiry into alleged election law violations.

An official from the office of Attorney General Cuomo said the Board of Elections would be the first to investigate and said an examination by the attorney general only would occur if the board referred a case.

A spokeswoman from the office of the Albany County district attorney, David Soares, declined to comment on any possible investigation. An official from the state Commission on Public Integrity said it was not authorized to investigate alleged misuse of campaign funds.

Since being sworn into office last Monday, Mr. Paterson’s has faced a litany of questions about his use of campaign funds, including the billing of his campaign committee credit card for an Upper West Side hotel room and a $500 campaign payment to a woman with whom he had a romantic relationship.

The legislative counsel for the New York Public Interest Research Group, Russ Haven, said the group looked at Mr. Paterson’s campaign reports and “didn’t see anything that jumped off the page.”

He said there are instances of inappropriate spending, but said that under the state’s permissive election law, they are not illegal acts. “I don’t think what he’s doing is much different from what we’ve seen from many legislators,” he said. He said he’d like to fix the campaign finance system so that there are greater restrictions on the use of the money and a better ability to audit campaign committees.

Stopping short of calling for an investigation into Mr. Paterson’s campaign spending, the executive director of Citizens Union, Richard Dadey, said it would be appropriate for the Board of Elections to conduct “a thorough review” of his campaign expenditures.