The popular image of lobbyists spending money on lawmakers usually is someone in an expensive suit representing some giant corporation seeking special treatment from the government.

However, the latest batch of lobbyist reports that trickled into the Secretary of State's Office last week showed that the lobbyists who were throwing the biggest parties for the senators and representatives were not from commercial interests. Instead, they represented state employees, community colleges and an environmentalist group.

Only a handful of the 48-hour lobbyist reports were filed last week.

Lobbyists are required by law, while the Legislature is in session, to report expenditures larger than $500 within 48 hours of the spending. But it's something of an honor system because there's no real enforcement mechanism in the Secretary of State's Office, which collects and publishes the reports online.

Here's the latest 48-hour lobbyist reports available on the office's Web site:

u The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees spent $6,445 on a reception Jan. 30 at the Inn at Loretto.

u Conservation Voters New Mexico spent $5,017 on a Jan. 27 legislative reception at Rio Chama.

u Timothy Ty Trujillo, a lobbyist for the New Mexico Association of Community Colleges, reported $1,550 for a Feb. 3 legislative reception at the Bull Ring.

u The Southwest Women's Law Center chipped in $200 for a Feb. 1 reception for female legislators and women in the state executive and judiciary branches. The event, at a location not disclosed in the report, was co-sponsored by the New Mexico Women's Agenda, which hadn't yet filed a report.

Lobbyists also are required to report advertising campaigns that take place during the session. So far, the only one of those to report is Better Choices, New Mexico, a coalition of left-leaning civic, labor and religious organizations supporting, among other things, rolling back tax cuts for the wealthy. The coalition reported spending $7,931 on a mail campaign.

Among the 48-hour reports on the secretary of state's Web site were reports of campaign contributions from two lobbyists (both of whom happen to be former Cabinet secretaries). All the contributions were made last year.

u Deborah Armstrong, a lobbyist for Delta Consulting Group and the New Mexico Medical Insurance Pool, contributed $375 to Diane Denish's gubernatorial campaign and $25 to Appeals Court Judge Linda Vanzi.

u Michelle Lujan Grisham, who lobbies for the same groups as Armstrong plus the Albuquerque Area Firefighters, contributed $375 to Denish, $25 to Vanzi and $175 to unsuccessful Albuquerque City Council candidate Alan Armijo.

A bill working its way through the Legislature this year, (House Bill 118) would prohibit lobbyists from contributing to state candidates.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.