WASHINGTON

The optimistically named Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 was supposed to prevent lobbyists from securing undue influence by taking members of Congress to intimate dinners at fancy restaurants.

But former Senator John B. Breaux, Democrat of Louisiana, said lobbyists had already come up with a way around the new law. They can make a political contribution to a member of Congress, and then have the member pay for the meal.

''If we call it a campaign contribution, that makes it legal,'' Mr. Breaux said. ''I can't buy a $20 breakfast for a senator whom I've known for years, but I can give him a $1,000 campaign contribution.''

Starting Monday, Washington lobbyists must file detailed quarterly reports of their activities. In recent weeks, they have been hiring lawyers and going to seminars to decipher the law, passed in response to scandals involving the lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

But even as they try to figure out what the law requires, lobbyists are working to preserve the access and influence they have in Congress and at federal agencies.

Two top lobbyists, Tony and Heather Podesta, have brought in chefs from the famed California restaurant Chez Panisse to prepare fund-raising dinners at their home for two Democratic senators, Barbara Boxer of California and Tom Harkin of Iowa.

Lawmakers cannot accept free tickets from a lobbyist for a sports event. But the lobbyist can make a campaign contribution worth far more than the ticket.

The campaign committee for Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader, is holding a fund-raiser with him at the new Washington Nationals baseball stadium just 15 blocks from the Capitol on April 24. The suggested contribution is $5,000 for political action committees and $1,500 for individuals.

Jan Witold Baran, a Republican expert on election law and government ethics, said, ''One of the consequences of the draconian gift ban is to drive more and more social interaction between lobbyists and Congressional officials into campaign fund-raising, which is not subject to most of the gift rules.''

Representative Gary L. Ackerman, Democrat of New York, said he was perplexed.

''You as a lobbyist cannot buy me a dinner for $40,'' Mr. Ackerman said in an interview, as he nibbled finger food at a recent conference on government ethics in New York. ''But if you give a contribution to my campaign, I can take you to dinner, and we can discuss politics or official business. You, the lobbyist, can give my campaign $1,000, and the campaign can pay for our dinner. That's perfectly legal, and it's perfectly dumb.''

For decades, lobbyists have registered with Congress, but compliance with reporting requirements has been spotty. They had little to fear if they understated their expenses or misrepresented their activities.

That changes in a big way this month. The comptroller general of the United States will audit a sample of lobbyist reports and can demand evidence to verify their accuracy. The new law quadruples the maximum civil fine, to $200,000, and provides up to five years in prison for failure to comply.

''Everybody is on pins and needles because we are dealing with a criminal statute,'' said James B. Christian Jr., a partner at Patton Boggs, whose federal lobbying revenues rose last year by 22 percent, to $42.7 million. ''Filing the reports will be very cumbersome and burdensome.''     It has not been lost on lobbyists that Congress, in turning off one spigot, may have opened another. Gary J. LaPaille, the president of mCapitol Management, which lobbies on appropriations and domestic security, recently warned his employees that if they violated the gift ban, they would be ''subject to disciplinary action or possible discharge -- not to mention the criminal penalties contained in the new Congressional ethics rules.''

But, Mr. LaPaille pointed out, he controls one of the largest political action committees maintained by any lobbying or law firm. And people who make campaign contributions, he said, ''have an opportunity to get face time with a member of Congress at fund-raising events.''

Lobbyists have been inundated with invitations to fund-raisers.

''Everybody is asking all the time,'' said Ms. Podesta, who reported that she was approaching the legal limit on individual contributions, $108,200 in this two-year cycle.

Lobbyists for the mutual-fund industry have organized a fund-raising breakfast on May 1 for Senator Robert F. Bennett of Utah, a senior Republican on the Banking Committee.

Other lawmakers find that the Nationals ballpark is an excellent site for entertaining. Representatives Eliot L. Engel, Democrat of New York, and Lynn Westmoreland, Republican of Georgia, plan to hold fund-raisers there, within days of Mr. Boehner's event.

It is too early to say if the law will achieve the goal of ''honest leadership and open government.'' But, said Craig B. Holman, a campaign finance lobbyist at Public Citizen, ''It has fundamentally changed how people do business on Capitol Hill.''

Deborah K. Sease, national campaign director of the Sierra Club, said the law had reduced the advantage that corporate lobbyists derived from entertaining members of Congress.

''Wining and dining and buying box seats at baseball games were never part of our stock in trade,'' Ms. Sease said. ''The new law has helped level the playing field.''

Restaurateurs are grumbling about a falloff in expense-account business.

''The aura of paranoia is palpable,'' said Lynne Breaux, president of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, who is not related to the former senator.

Under prior House rules, lawmakers and their aides could accept gifts, including food and refreshments, from virtually any person or organization if the items had a value less than $50. New rules ban most gifts from lobbyists and their employers.

How much the gift ban has driven up lobbyists' contributions will not be clear until July, when lobbyists must file a new type of report listing money they have contributed to a Congressional candidate, an event honoring a member of Congress, a charity designated by a lawmaker, a presidential library or an inaugural committee. As part of the report, lobbyists and their employers must sign ''certifications'' attesting that they have read and adhered to the new gift rules.

Kenneth A. Gross, a lawyer at Skadden, Arps, likened this requirement to a 2002 law under which corporate executives must personally certify the accuracy of their financial reports. ''No tuna fish sandwich or cup of coffee is safe if a public official is involved,'' Mr. Gross said.

While generally banning gifts from lobbyists, the rules make an exception for ''food or refreshments of nominal value'' provided outside a meal.

A new edition of the House ethics manual, issued this month, says this exemption applies to food offered ''at a business meeting, reception or similar gathering,'' but not to food eaten ''in a one-on-one setting with a registered lobbyist.''

Lawmakers and their aides can accept hors d'oeuvres and drinks provided by a lobbying firm at a holiday reception. But, the ethics manual says, they cannot accept hot dogs because they constitute a meal.

Moreover, the ethics manual says, if a lobbyist invites a Congressional aide to Starbucks to discuss the status of a pending bill, ''the staff person may not accept a cup of coffee from the lobbyist'' because ''the occasion is not a reception.''

The Senate has made an exception for the news media. In a recent bulletin, the SenateSelect Committee on Ethics said senators could ''accept a cup of coffee while appearing on a Sunday television news program -- otherwise forbidden since the television networks employ lobbyists.''

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company