The indictment of Dayton Democrat Rep. Clayton Luckie on 45 felony charges raises questions about how well the state monitors improper spending by elected officials.

Included in the $130,000 that Luckie is alleged to have stolen from his campaign funds were nearly $40,000 in debit card transactions that included purchases at retailers such as Morris Home Furnishings, Weber Jewelers, Elder Beerman, Best Buy, Babies R Us and Walmart.

A Dayton Daily News examination of Luckie’s finance reports shows he spent freely from his campaign funds during his six years in office.

Using money donated to the campaign, Luckie bought $13,000 in sports and entertainment tickets, spent $1,192 on car maintenance and covered thousands of dollars in incidental expenses that included expenditures such as a $67.41 propane tank over Memorial Day weekend, the reports show.

In one month alone — December 2011 — Luckie spent $346 on gifts, including $52.53 at Best Buy in Trotwood, $32.69 at the Gap in Centerville and $117.70 at Weber Jewelers in Kettering, the reports show. After the Weber expenditure the words “gift for the holidays” were written on the report.

Luckie’s filings did attract some attention from the five auditors at the Secretary of State’s office who review hundreds of campaign finance reports each year. Questions were raised on three separate reports, and auditors sent 10 letters seeking more information from the Luckie campaign.

The FBI began investigating Luckie after discovering a $300 contribution to his campaign from a pay day lending group’s political action committee. The group reported the donation, but Luckie did not. Authorities said they soon found that Luckie designated Richmond Jones as his campaign treasurer in 2006 without Jones’ knowledge or participation, and forged Jones’ signature on documents submitted to the Secretary of State.

The 45 felony and four misdemeanor counts faced by Luckie include forgery, theft in office, money laundering, and election falsification. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and his attorney Wednesday said he disagreed “with a lot of what is in the indictment.”

Government watchdogs say Ohio’s campaign finance laws make it too easy to use campaign funds for personal expenses.

“When it comes to campaign finance expenditures, the rules are loosey-goosey. It is one big gray area,” said Catherine Turcer, former director of Ohio Citizen Action’s Money in Politics Project. “You go back through the reports and ask ‘How is this connected to your campaign?’ And they get away with buying tuxedos and replacing glass in a car.”

More could and should be done to curb such spending, a spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted said Thursday.

“Clearly, this shows that current law has no teeth. The secretary looks forward to talking with the General Assembly after the election about possible reforms,” Husted spokesman Matt McClellan said.

McClellan would not say what reforms the office would seek, but added, “You really had an individual who falsified documents, so we don’t have a way, currently, to catch that.”

Jennifer Brunner, an elections law attorney and former secretary of state, said Ohio should require campaign committees to disclose their bank account information to the Secretary of State or local county board of election. “It says to a candidate: ‘If we need to check up on you, we can,’” she said. Bank account information is required by the Federal Elections Commission, she said.

Brunner, however, cautioned against setting up too many restrictions.

“One guy had a shoe bomb, so now we all have to take off our shoes for TSA,” she said. “I think we have to think before we create blanket new rules that actually impede people stepping up to serve in public office.”

Matt Yuskewich, a CPA who is treasurer for a dozen campaigns, said the standard is whether the expense can be tied to the campaign or the duties of the office.

Yuskewich said the Secretary of State, though often backlogged by as much as a year, does thoroughly audit campaign finance reports and frequently asks for back up documentation on expenses. The auditors also do a good job of cross-checking campaign donations that are reported two places — in a donor report and a recipient report — to make sure they match.

Brunner said auditors do not routinely check to see if signatures on treasurer designation forms are valid.

Yuskewich said a key safeguard is having a competent, knowledgeable treasurer. Nowadays, local candidates still use volunteer treasurers but statewide candidates hire certified public accountants, he said. A CPA will install additional controls to guard against fraud, such as reconciling accounts monthly or requiring approvals on all expenditures, he said.

“It has really become much more of a job. You have to know the rules,” Yuskewich said. “The friend or neighbor who volunteers and says ‘I’ll be treasurer and write the checks’ can get themselves in trouble.”