Often, legislators just pick up the tab themselves, in order to crush any hint of impropriety. To many lobbyists, and even to many of the legislators who voted for the ethics law, all this seems like ridiculous meddling with natural social relationships. And for a gregarious baking enthusiast with friendships dating back two decades, it is downright illogical. Judy Taylor says there is no way to separate the part of her that gave away cookies as a lobbying tool and the part of her that did it for simple pleasure and friendship. It's not the lobbyists or the legislators that the law was written for, but the public.
Most voters think it just plain looks bad when lobbyists shower their representatives with goodies.
Thus, the gift ban concerned itself at least as much with the appearance of impropriety as with impropriety itself. The lines are clearly drawn, and everyone is sensitive to appearances. It is much harder now for a lobbyist or legislator to slide carelessly from the unethical into the illegal. If it was OK for a lobbyist to pay for your dinner, to invite you to his condo to play golf, and to send you a box of chocolates, then maybe you would not see that it's not OK in a casino for a lobbyist to hand you a stack of poker chips. In the new era, lobbyists do have less direct access to lawmakers.