The convention party rule in the overarching ethics bill, dubbed the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, is aimed at preventing lobbyists from throwing lavish parties to honor members as a way to curry favor with them, a practice that has taken place at conventions for decades but has drawn more scrutiny in the wake of lobbying scandals involving Jack Abramoff and former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s (R-Calif.) wide-ranging bribery scandal.

For example, the Senate Ethics Committee guidelines say members shouldn’t attend an event honoring the “Nevada Congressional Delegation.” Events honoring “Nevada Republican Officials” or “Nevada Delegates,” however, would be OK.

Democrats touted the same watchdogs’ support when they passed the landmark ethics law, but now the groups are angrily arguing that the House is not providing the enforcement to accomplish the legislation’s goals.

Last week, Democracy 21 turned up the pressure on individual members, sending a letter urging them to ignore the House ethics guidance.    The group also put every member on notice that it will “take all appropriate steps” to ensure that members are “held publicly accountable” for any violations.

Stefan Passantino, who served as a campaign and ethics counsel to former Speakers Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), said some corporations and lobbyists are worried about the attention parties may get.

“There’s a shyness among certain folks in the private sector. They know this is going to be a heavily attended media event and there’s a p.r. component,” said Passantino, who now chairs the political law team at McKenna, Long & Aldridge.

Other ethics experts, however, predict that aggressive corporate convention die-hards will find ways to keep the parties hopping despite the new rules.

Jan Baran of Wiley Rein said the lobbyist-sponsored parties will continue in St. Paul, Minn. and Denver, just as they do in Washington, D.C., where widely attended events now feature appetizers on toothpicks instead of full-fledged meals so as to comply with new ethics rules.

A lot of corporate clients, Baran said, are donating directly to the convention host committees, and the host committees are approaching the ethics panels to figure out exactly what will and will not be allowed.

Baran said some questions emanating from the contrasting House and Senate rules will be up for interpretation. If businesses have trouble getting answers on detailed questions about the parties they plan to hold from the ethics committees, they’ll ask their member friends in Congress to do it for them, he said.

“Nobody is going to be able to require the House and Senate to adopt exactly the same rules,” Baran said. “It’s hasn’t been done in more than 200 years and I don’t think they’re going to start now.”