Lawrence A. Mandelker, an election lawyer who was treasurer for Mayor Edward I. Koch’s campaigns, said it was unlikely that the State Board of Elections would pursue Mr. Paterson’s personal use of campaign funds “if he made the campaign whole by reimbursing it in a timely manner.”  “Technically,” Mr. Mandelker said, “it’s not great to have the campaign advance monies for a noncampaign purpose, but if you reimburse the campaign right away, no harm, no foul.”  The personal use of campaign money raises another question, however, that cannot be easily cleared up.  Any expense must be assigned a category in the reports filed with the elections board, and the campaign treasurer attests to their truthfulness, said Robert Brehm, a spokesman for the board. Falsely reporting the purpose of an expense can subject campaign officials to civil penalties or a criminal misdemeanor charge, he said.  Mr. Brehm, who said the board had received no complaints about Mr. Paterson’s campaign spending, was speaking in general terms about the law. Efforts to reach the former treasurer for Mr. Paterson’s campaign, Joan Flowers, were unsuccessful.  Mr. Paterson’s campaign reports show that the original expenses he later reimbursed were categorized as “constituent services,” a broad category that covers any activities in which the candidate uses campaign money to attend to the needs of a constituent. His campaign reports, like those of many elected officials, include tens of thousands of dollars of expenses under this category for such things as meals, flowers, charitable contributions and hotel stays.  Among the Paterson campaign’s expenses were two in September 2001 at a hotel on the Upper West Side of Manhattan that Mr. Paterson’s office has confirmed he used for an extramarital affair during that period.  The expenses, totaling $455, were incurred at what was then the Quality Hotel on West 94th Street on Sept. 10 and Sept. 24, and are listed in campaign reports as office-related. On each of those days, the reports also show expenses for Amtrak train travel between Albany and New York and meals at Upper West Side restaurants. Mr. Paterson has indicated that a staff member might have stayed at the hotel on those nights. The reports show no record of reimbursements for any of those expenses.  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B6 of the New York edition with the headline: Paterson Says He Would Have Repaid Any Personal Use of His Campaign Funds. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Gov. David A. Paterson, who has admitted having a number of extramarital affairs, indicated that if he ever used campaign money in the course of those relationships he would have properly reimbursed the campaign account.