SAN DIEGO -- In the heart of Washington, D.C.'s power corridor, near the Capitol, is a building called 101 Constitution Avenue. It's the closest commercial building to the Capitol, according to the website for the building.

According to a July article posted on the Huffington Post website, it was in this building where cigar-smoking lobbyists and connected congressional staffers met. However, what was discussed is being questioned, as is the role San Diego-based Rep. Brian Bilbray or his staff had in creating legislation beneficial to companies represented by lobbyists in attendance.

Questions about Bilbray's role in sponsoring the smoke-filled meeting began with the Huffington Post's article about the Congressional Cigar Association.

The group was created to promote networking among staff, according to Bilbray, who represents California's 50th District, but the membership included lobbyists as well. Congressional staffers who are members are, for the most part, Republicans, but there are also some Democrats in the group.

A letter from the House's Administration Committee said the entire arrangement is legal, and Bilbray's office requested the clarification after the Huffington Post article appeared. The parties maintain that no deals were cut and nothing illegal ever took place.

Five days after a similar gathering of the Congressional Cigar Association, Bilbray introduced HR 5615. The bill was introduced to kill taxes on the sale of medical devices, part of the billions of dollars needed to fund President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. The bill would replace the missing billions of dollars with leftover stimulus money.

With help from media partners the Watchdog Institute at San Diego State University and the San Diego U-T, the I-Team followed up on the Huffington Post story and learned lobbyist Jeff Choudhry was a part of the cigar meetings.

According to research done by the Watchdog Institute, Choudhry worked for a company representing a large medical device manufacturer and was also a board member of the Cigar Association. Bilbray's proposed legislation would benefit many medical device manufacturers and their employees, including Choudhry's company's client. That meeting took place last June at the 101 Constitution Ave. address, the I-Team learned.

Two other lobbyists in the Cigar Association work for pharmaceutical/health product companies, and the website OpenSecrets.org shows the Bilbray has received $47,300 from that industry, his fourth-largest contributor to his current re-election campaign.

Bilbray would not comment, in part, because he was occupied with family issues, he said.

However, sources close to Bilbray said he and his staff have done nothing wrong, saying there was no wheeling and dealing going on at the Congressional Cigar Association meetings.

The sources also pointed out that lobbyists and congressional staffers "run into each other all over Washington" as a matter of course.

As to the legislation Bilbray proposed, sources said the timing was coincidental and it takes months to craft legislation, not days.

Contributing reporter: Brooke Williams, Washington D.C. correspondent, Watchdog Institute, www.watchdoginstitute.org