LOBBYING RULES PUTS A DAMPER ON FUN NIGHTS AT CAMDEN YARDS

     Due to a newly passed ban on gifts to members of Congress,
lawmakers and staff members who want to go see the Orioles at
Camden Yards this season will probably have to pay their own way,
according to the Baltimore SUN.  American Trucking Association
Chief Lobbyist Timothy Lynch:  "We're all wearing black
armbands."  Karen Hosler writes that in the past, the "choicest
sections" of Camden Yards were said to "bear a striking
resemblance to Washington's K Street corridor," as one-third of
the Orioles 27,500 season-ticket base is from DC.  But with a $50
limit on meals and gifts for senators and staff, and a total ban
on such favors in the House, "freebies along the first base line
are likely to be a thing of the past."   Lobbyists are already
said to be searching for loopholes (Baltimore SUN, 2/16).