ALBANY - State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno’s office continues to defend the senator’s purchase of a $1,300 swimming pool cover with campaign funds.

      Meanwhile, an outspoken Democratic activist from Rensselaer County called it an "arrogant" misuse of public campaign contributions by the Republican senator.

      Bruno’s staff insists that the senator did nothing inappropriate when he used campaign funds to purchase a new cover for a swimming pool located behind his private political office in Brunswick.

      The expense was justified, they said, because Bruno uses the office-house for political purposes, such as entertaining other politicians and guests.

      While Bruno aides said the pool cover and thousands of dollars in other "maintenance" done at the property are legal, a state Board of Elections official says the line between "personal" and "political" use of campaign funds can be difficult to distinguish. Bruno’s political office, which is reportedly also used as a guest house, is located next to his home.

      Under state election laws, politicians are prohibited from using campaign funds for "a personal use which is unrelated to a political campaign or the holding of a public office or party position."

      The revelation this week that Bruno and at least a dozen other GOP and Democratic state legislators dipped into their campaign accounts for trips, gifts and other items prompted three government watchdog groups to urge the state Board of Elections to launch an investigation.

      The continued reluctance of Bruno’s office this week to disclose the exact location of the local political office led Democratic activist Charles "C.B." Smith to conclude the public was entitled to a full investigation.

      "It just strikes me as the height of arrogance to first of all use the money for (a pool cover), then tell the public they don’t have the right to know where this alleged campaign office is located," Smith said Friday.

      "Somebody ought to be standing up besides me and screaming about this because it strikes at the very core of the integrity of the campaign finance system. This is why we need reform when people can do this kind of thing," he said.

      John McArdle, Bruno’s spokesman, disclosed Friday afternoon that the campaign office was on a parcel of land next to Bruno’s primary residence.

      Bruno, who used his own money to purchase the building three or four years ago, uses it primarily as an office and for political entertaining, according to McArdle.

      Since Bruno purchased the house, he said the senator has used "less than $10,000" in campaign funds for upkeep and maintenance expenses.

      McArdle again Friday reiterated that the purchase of the pool equipment and other maintenance was "a legitimate campaign expenditure" in compliance with state laws. State Board of Election spokesman Lee Daghlian said Bruno and other legislators have plenty of latitude in how they spend political contributions.

      "What’s ‘proper’ and ‘not proper’ is difficult to decide in some cases because there is no laundry list of what you can do and can’t do in the law," Daghlian said Friday.

      A politician using funds to build or maintain a swimming pool for political entertaining could very easily be justified, he said.

      "I can’t say if that expense by Sen. Bruno’s campaign committee was related to either him holding office or running for office or not. We’ll have to take a look at it somehow and it’s in the process of being done," he said.

      "It might be sacrilegious of me to say so, but who is really concerned about what they spend their money on? You give money to a guy’s campaign committee. You give it because you hope he gets elected or re-elected," Daghlian said. "If he spends it on literature to hand out, or gas for his car to run around in, or a cover for his pool, who cares?"

      But that view is not shared by the watchdog groups who contend the state’s campaign finance laws are having a corrupting influence and warrant sweeping reforms.

      Assemblyman Jack McEneny, D-Albany, said "a lot of eyebrows have been raised" with Bruno and other lawmakers using political funds in possibly questionable ways.

      "Obviously, we’re going to have to revisit just what the rules say. Just like you saw a major reconsideration of what the lobbying laws are in the wake of the Philip Morris (scandal)," McEneny said.

      Even if no wrongdoing is found, the increased public scrutiny will likely force the state to come up with "tighter guidelines" for using of political donations, he added.

      Like many other critics, Smith said he is outraged politicians are allowed to exploit public campaign dollars for personal benefit.

      "Bruno is a multimillionaire. I don’t think you’ll find too many contributors that will tell you when they wrote that check for $50, $100 or $1,000 to Joe Bruno that they envisioned it going towards a pool cover. I’d be insulted," he said.

      "A fax machine or a computer, maybe. But a pool? By the wildest stretch of the imagination, this one is impossible to legitimize. It’s an outrage," Smith said.

      According to the most recent campaign disclosure filed with the state, Bruno reports having a $1.6 million war chest though he will not have an opponent this year.

      Even if the $1,300 pool cover is deemed legal under New York’s weak campaign finance laws, Smith contends Bruno has an ethical responsibility to follow the spirit, as well as letter, of the law.

      "He is the Senate majority leader. He should be setting the highest ethical standards of anybody in the Senate," Smith said. "If this is the example that the Senate majority leader wants to set for the New York state Legislature, we’re all in big trouble."