In September, President George W. Bush signed a new lobbying reform bill now requires lawmakers to disclose more about their efforts to fund targeted spending projects, or earmarks, and will bar House and Senate members from taking gifts from lobbyists or their clients. That includes taking a member of Congress or staffer to lunch or dinner or giving them tickets to a sporting or cultural event. In addition, Senators and candidates for the White House or the Senate will have to pay the full share of their use of private planes. The genesis of the law, drafted by congressional Democrats, is obvious. It's in response to lobbying scandals that landed two former Republican lawmakers in prison.

The problem for some business might lie in those gray areas. The reality is that for many businesses that interact with politicians, there are events that are just part of the operations. So how do you negotiate the new rules without getting into trouble.

The key is to set up pre-approval processes and track all lobbying expenses rigorously, says Arnold & Porter partner Sonia P Fois in Legal Times. Another good suggestion is for companies to appoint a lobbying and gifts compliance "czar" to oversee all these matters and make sure everything is above board.

The question is whether this legalistic approach to an ethical issue will work. If they really want to, businesses, lobbyists and lawmakers can still work out ways of slinging favors while maintaining things "at arms length" and completely legal.