WASHINGTON -- The lobbyist punched in his voice-mail code and listened to the pitch:

"Hi. … This is Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave, 4th District in Colorado. I would like to invite you to have breakfast with me, informally, 8:45 on any given morning at the Capitol Hill Club, just to talk about the issues that are on your mind."

The Republican lawmaker suggested a couple of dates, then said the lobbyist could contact her fundraising firm to set up an appointment.

Such pleas for campaign donations are routine in Washington. "This is the norm," said the lobbyist, who gave The Dispatch a copy of the recorded message and spoke on condition that he not be identified for fear of losing valuable access to lawmakers.

"It happens all the time," said another lobbyist, who also insisted on anonymity for the same reason.

And it happens even though lawmakers continue passing measures to "protect" themselves from the influence of lobbying.

In return, the lobbyists maintain access that is unavailable to ordinary Americans who do not donate to political campaigns.

The telephone call is a prime example of how lenient campaign-fundraising laws can undercut new congressional rules designed to curb the influence of lobbyists. Members of Congress take advantage of holes in the maze of new and old regulations to raise millions of dollars from lobbyists seeking laws favorable to their clients.

Under federal campaign-finance laws, Musgrave -- like all of her Republican and Democratic colleagues -- can solicit as much as $2,300 for her campaign while inviting a lobbyist to breakfast. But under House ethics rules, that lobbyist could not pay for her $20 breakfast.

The same regulations forbid House Minority Leader John Boehner from accepting even a simple lunch during the week at one of the House's cafeterias. But it's permissible for the Cincinnati-area Republican to invite lobbyists to a weekend golf event at the posh Greenbrier resort in West Virginia, as he did in June, allowing them to funnel thousands of dollars to his political action committee.

"In essence, it's buying face time," said Charles Kolb, president of the Committee for Economic Development, a nonpartisan Washington organization of business and education leaders. "I've always felt that elected members of Congress were for all the American people, and you shouldn't have to pay a toll to have access to them. We have a system where people who write the checks have the access, and that's a pretty lousy commentary on the openness of our democracy."

Others contend that the ban on meals at least places some obstacles in the path of lobbyists. Fred Wertheimer, president of the public-interest organization Democracy 21, said the distinction between campaign-fundraising and ethics rules "in no way undermines the value of the ban on a lobbyist paying for a meal."

"The lobbyist gets an hour or two of complete and uninterrupted access to a member of Congress, which is almost impossible to get today," Wertheimer said of meals. "A lobbyist shows up at a big fundraising event, the chance is they get a chance to say hello."

Events such as the Musgrave breakfast or Boehner golf trips are likely to become even more prevalent in the aftermath of the scandal involving former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, now serving a prison sentence for corruption.

Abramoff helped finance a $140,000 trip by private jet to Scotland in 2003 for former Rep. Bob Ney, the Licking County Republican from Heath. An iconic image emerged from that episode: a snapshot of Ney, Abramoff and others beaming on a Scottish golf course during the lavish junket. Ney pleaded guilty last year to federal corruption charges and is serving a 30-month sentence in a federal prison in West Virginia.

The Abramoff scandal helped sweep Democrats to power in the Senate and House in November. In January, House Democrats passed a series of rules that prohibited lawmakers from accepting free meals, tickets to events or trips from lobbyists. Before leaving for summer recess, the House and Senate passed a bill putting many of those rules into law. Despite the new restrictions, lawmakers still can throw a fundraiser and invite lobbyists. And lobbyists still gain plenty of valuable access for the price of a contribution.

One Republican lobbyist said he does his best to evade the voice messages from members of Congress. If a member is not assigned to a committee that has jurisdiction over his client, he does not return the call.

"You've got to catch me live," he said. Even so, his first reaction when he answers the phone and hears the voice of a member of Congress is, "Darn."

"The system we have is a system everyone hates," said the lobbyist who received the Musgrave message. "They hate asking for money, we hate being asked for money and even more being asked to raise money and ask our clients for money. But this is the system we have. I think there will be more trip fundraisers."

Meredith McGehee, policy director for the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington-based nonprofit that champions government ethics and campaign-finance reform, said, "If you don't play the game here ... the likelihood is you will get screwed."

Lawmakers can get quite creative in coming up with out-of-town events to attract lobbyists and their money.

For example, Democratic Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Cleveland held a June 22 fundraiser on a 74-foot schooner sailing out of the historic Chesapeake Bay port of Annapolis, Md. Tubbs Jones is chairwoman of the House ethics committee and a member of the powerful tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. About 30 people sailed for more than two hours on the sunset cruise, mostly lobbyists or representatives of various political action committees, a Tubbs Jones spokeswoman said.

Earlier this year, Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Upper Arlington, held a fundraiser in the Colorado ski town of Aspen. The lunch reception piggybacked on a more extensive fundraising trip hosted by another lawmaker, who a Pryce spokeswoman declined to name. Lori Salley, Pryce's chief of staff, noted that Pryce was raising money not for her own re-election coffers but for her "leadership" political action committee, which gives money to other lawmakers or GOP entities.

"The reason you see these trips and that they usually are PAC or party functions is because it's harder to raise money for those entities," Salley said. "So you have to be more creative and interesting."

The new ethics rules allow lawmakers to sometimes evade the prohibition on meals without having to attend a fundraiser.

A lawmaker can show up at "widely attended" events hosted by lobbyists or trade associations and eat and drink at his or her leisure -- as long as more than 25 people from outside Congress also are invited, said Brett G. Kappel, a lawyer and lobbyist in Washington with the Columbus-based firm of Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease and an expert on ethics rules and campaign-finance laws.

At smaller, more intimate gatherings, the so-called "toothpick rule" allows lawmakers to dine on a lobbyists' dime as long as it involves food that can be eaten by hand while standing.

Those opportunities frequently come at Capitol Hill townhouses owned by trade associations and corporations and used as fundraising-entertainment centers by lawmakers.

Still, having a member of Congress or two as a "captive audience" for a weekend has its advantages.

"Oft times, a political event out of town provides more opportunity for a lobbyist to interact with and spend time with and build their relationship with a member than an event here in Washington, where many times the member is there for a short period of time, a vote is called and they are gone," said Wright Andrews, a Democratic lobbyist.

"People have to think of human nature here in terms of how people build relationships. Because of the current limitations and restrictions, it is more appealing to attend some of those events where you can have more quality time."

jriskind@dispatch.com

jtorry@dispatch.com

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Listen to Musgrave's solicitation at www.dispatch.com

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