SAN DIEGO -- According to sources, three council members allegedly made promises to the strip club industry in exchange for political contributions. The alleged promises are at the heart of the City Hall inquiry. What is acceptable in the often murky dealings between large campaign contributors and the elected officials they support?

City Council members Ralph Inzunza, (pictured, far left), Michael Zucchet, (pictured, middle), and Charles Lewis, (pictured, left), each said they have done nothing wrong in meeting with a strip-club industry lobbyist.

Lewis and Inzunza admit they took thousands in contributions from strip-club owners and associates. However, it is common practice for elected officials to take campaign contributions from special interest groups, 10News reported.

Several years ago, County Supervisor Bill Horn's campaign benefited from a $20,000 donation from the 4-S Ranch Housing Development. Developers passed the money to the Deputy Sheriff's Association which immediately spent it to support Horn. Horn then voted for the 4-S development on the day after he was re-elected.

Horn denied the money influenced his vote.

"You can't buy my vote for $20,000," Horn said in February of 2000.

District Attorney Prosecutor Sally Williams said there is no guide that tells elected officials what they can and cannot say in exchange for campaign contributions.

"Obviously you can't say you're going to trade your vote for money," Williams said.

But apart from the obvious, Williams said most of the time it is an understanding between special interest groups and the elected officials.

Horn told 10News that $20,000 will not buy his vote but said "it'll buy access."

Strip-club lobbyist Lance Malone had access to Inzunza, Lewis and Zucchet. But unlike nearly every other meeting between a lobbyist and an elected official, federal agents were listening in. Sources told 10News that the wire-tapped conversations are key evidence the grand jury is hearing.

Last Friday, the federal grand jury heard from FBI agents testifying about their knowledge of the case, presumably including the wire-tapped conversations. Prosecutors and defense attorneys familiar with the grand jury process said it is reasonable to expect that agents would be among the lasts witnesses called, and that the grand jury is winding up its investigation. It is possible that an indictment may be seen within the next few weeks, 10News reported.