Most of that goes to athletic and special event tickets and meals. For example, $4,007 went to lawmakers in football tickets as the U.'s team went undefeated, ending the year ranked No. 4. That total doesn't include any tickets to the Fiesta Bowl, for it was played on New Year's Day and will be on future lobbyist reports.

But U. Assistant Vice President for Government Affairs Nancy Lyon, a former lawmaker herself, said while U. officials aided some lawmakers in finding Fiesta Bowl tickets, which lawmakers then bought themselves at face value, no Fiesta Bowl tickets were given to legislators. (Each U. Board of Trustee member, however, was given two tickets, as was former Gov. Olene Walker.)

All the U.'s spending on public officials comes from private donations, none from taxpayer dollars, Lyon said.

Weber State University spent $4,823, much of that in athletic tickets. Salt Lake Community College has no athletic teams, but it still spent $3,661 on public officials, mostly for meals and tickets to plays.

• While legislators seem to have taken fewer Jazz tickets in 2004 (maybe because the team is losing more and more home games), Stan Lockhart, lobbyist for Micron, again sets the pace in Jazz ticket-giving. Micron rents out a luxury box in the Delta Center. Lockhart, husband of Rep. Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, spent $4,954 on public officials last year, $3,600 on Jazz tickets alone. Twenty different legislators attended on Micron's dime.

• A number of groups held meal/receptions for the 104 legislators, events that can be pricey. The Utah Soft Drink Association spent $10,279 last year, much of it on a Jan. 19, 2004, banquet.

• Several lobbyists got together to entertain dozens of legislators at a Magna gun club trap-shooting contest. The cost: $40.08 per lawmaker.

The nature of lobbying has changed over time. Some of the more veteran, respected lobbyists who used to spend thousands of dollars each year now spend little or no money on legislators.

In fact, some of the more frugal lobbyists are former legislators. "That's because we know (gifts) don't mean anything," joked one former legislator-turned-lobbyist who was filing his report Wednesday morning in the Elections Office.

Other lobbyists stick to the old tried-and-true formula: Get to know legislators by feeding and entertaining them.

Lobbyist Reed Searle spent $2,023 on legislators. He traveled to Anchorage, Alaska, for a meeting of a national legislators conference and took Sen. Pete Knudson, R-Brigham City, fishing for $150.

Dave Nicponski took four senators out for a steak dinner at $207 apiece.

Spencer Stokes, former state GOP executive director, spent $1,656 on meals, flowers, stuffed animals and pins for lawmakers.

Waste firm Envirocare took dozens of legislators (it is hard to tell how many) to the Days of '47 Rodeo.

And Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah spent $3,556 last year, part of it taking 19 legislators and their spouses to Deer Valley for dinner and a symphony concert.

Each general session, the Deseret Morning News gives free newspapers to lawmakers. In 2004, that was $3,375.

As of Wednesday morning, just over two-thirds of the registered lobbyists had filed their 2004 year-end reports, officials at the State Elections Office said. So the $140,000 in total gifts will go up as the remaining lobbyists file their reports.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com