We're sad that the Houston Chronicle's Matt Stiles isn't covering Houston City Hall anymore, but we're thrilled he's taking a hard look at lawmakers in Austin.

Stiles spent some time combing through lobbyist disclosure forms that are filed with the Texas Ethics Commission. He found that lobbyists spent a cool $12.8 million (at least) over the past four years wining and dining state lawmakers and other officials. A big chunk of that cash was spent on "fact-finding" trips to Lake Tahoe, British Columbia and a Ritz-Carlton in Greensboro, Georgia.

Stiles also showed that the industries whose lobbyists took lawmakers on trips such as these later got perks from some of those lawmakers.

From Stiles' story:

In November 2006 ... the Texas Council of Engineering Companies spent more than $10,000 flying several lawmakers to the Ritz-Carlton Lodge in Greensboro, Ga.

The four-day "public affairs" conference included seminars and meals in which lawmakers say they discussed state policy with council members, many of whom own large construction companies with interests in government road, building and water construction projects.

Lawmakers at the event included state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, who spent at least three days at the resort, which touts its proximity to antebellum towns and championship golf courses. Williams received free lodging and transportation and at least $400 in food and beverages.

Sen. Tommy Williams sponsored several bills affecting engineers a few months after the conference. Williams' office said those bills were a reaction to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and not neccesarily connected to the conference.

Stiles also added up some of the lobbyist spending. (It's in the paper itself and we couldn't find it in the online version.) Here are some of those numbers:

Lobbyists spent $957,365 on state senators; $2.6 million on state representatives; $774,538 on executive branch employees; and $878,098 on officials' family members.

In addition to Stiles' story, check out the Chronicle's easy-to-use database of lobbyist spending.