Instead of picking up the lawmaker's tab, lobbyists pay a political fund-raising committee set up by the lawmaker.

The excursions would be illegal under the new ethics rules if lobbyists or their employers paid for them directly.

It is obvious that political contributions and effective lobbyists pay rich dividends, as has been vividly demonstrated by the tobacco industry.

It also means changing the rules that permit lobbyists to pay travel costs, and senators and representatives to convert leftover campaign funds to personal use.

Yet local officials' near-unanimous justification is that the lobbyists pay for themselves many times over through the infusion of federal funds.

As a result, lobbyists and others are still paying big sums to spend time with powerful lawmakers in glamorous settings.

The lobbyists pay their own way and make a campaign contribution.

He has done well on his important task, enforcing the state's lobbying law by demanding that lobbyists register or pay the requisite fines.

If a lobbyist attended all of the fund-raisers and paid the minimum asking price, it would cost $22,434.

When trade associations, interest groups or foreign lobbyists paid the way, members of Congress were a mobile lot in 1992.