The Utah lawmaker acknowledges helping his brother's clients, including pressing Congress last month to intervene in a business dispute over an Internet contract estimated to be worth as much as $1.3 billion.

''If my wife decided to lobby, then we would probably say, 'No talking to my office.' I just don't see my brother in the same category,'' Cannon, R-Utah, said.

Cannon has a financial interest in his brother's success: The lobbyist owes him more than $250,000, according to the lawmaker's financial disclosure reports.

There are no U.S. laws prohibiting relatives from lobbying lawmakers. House ethics rules require lawmakers to behave in ways that ''reflect creditably'' on Congress, avoid any special favors for family members and avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest.

''A lot of people I know are lobbyists,'' said Rep. Cannon, who has been elected five times. ''I would put Joe in that category, not as a family member.''

Some ethics experts rejected Cannon's distinction.

''It's an obvious conflict of interest,'' said Wendell Rawls Jr., acting executive director at the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan watchdog group. ''It's an obvious use of an insider position to further the best interest of a family member.''

Fred Werthheimer, head of the Democracy 21 group that endorses lobbying and campaign finance reforms, said Cannon has created appearance problems - months before midterm elections - inside a Congress already tainted by lobbying scandals and bribery investigations.

''When a member of Congress starts taking action based on the requests of a brother or spouse, you create the impression that the action may be taking place to provide a financial benefit for the family rather than to carry out proper public policy,'' he said. ''This is the kind of appearance problem no member needs.''

Dozens of Republican and Democratic lawmakers have children, siblings or spouses who work as lobbyists. Some said they prohibit relatives, even siblings, from lobbying them or anyone working for them.

Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., whose sister is a lobbyist for nuclear and energy interests, does not allow her to lobby his office. Likewise, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay limited access to his office by his estranged brother, Randy, after 1996, when Randy DeLay's lobbying activities prompted an ethics complaint that later was dismissed. DeLay, R-Texas, left Congress earlier this year under an ethics cloud.

Joe Cannon, who also is chairman of the Utah Republican Party, is his congressman-brother's one-time business partner. The two also are close political allies.

During Chris Cannon's heated Republican primary race this year, his brother departed from the neutrality expected of party officers and took shots at his opponent on a conservative Web site. In an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, Joe Cannon acknowledged he assisted his brother's campaign behind the scenes.

Joe Cannon leads a team of 10 lobbyists at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, a law and lobbying firm. He represents nearly a dozen lobbying clients and specializes in environmental cases.

In the dispute over the Internet contract, Rep. Cannon joined with three other lawmakers last month at his brother's urging to press for a congressional hearing. They signed a letter that expressed concerns about a proposed contract - which is subject to approval by the Bush administration - between the Internet's primary oversight body and VeriSign Inc., a $4.2 billion California company.

Joe Cannon is a lobbyist for a competing company, Network Solutions Inc. That company sells Web addresses and opposes price increases it would pay to VeriSign under the pending agreement.

''My job was to talk with Chris,'' the lobbyist brother said. ''After I talked with him, the fact is, we hardly ever talked about it after that. I can't use him just because he's my brother to go do something; it's got to be something he's got a legitimate interest in.''

Rep. Cannon, chairman of the House Judiciary commercial law subcommittee, said he has closely followed Internet issues. ''He had a client. I had an interest,'' the lawmaker explained.

Joe Cannon's lobbying firm helped draft the July 7 letter his brother signed asking Rep. Lamar Smith, who heads the House Judiciary Internet subcommittee, to hold a hearing. Smith, R-Texas, said he has not yet decided whether to conduct such an oversight hearing.

Joe Cannon said he has lobbied his brother on other occasions, twice involving higher education issues. Rep. Cannon's home district in Provo includes Brigham Young University, which last year paid Joe Cannon roughly $70,000 as its Washington lobbyist. Both brothers graduated from the university.

Joe Cannon sought his brother's help earlier this year establishing a ''complexity center'' involving BYU and the University of Utah. Joe Cannon said it was to be run by a defense contractor, System of Systems Analytics Inc., of Chantilly, Va.. The contractor employs Joe Cannon's Utah-based company, The Western Standard Publishing Company Inc., as a subcontractor.

Joe Cannon said he disclosed his own business relationship with the project, which both he and Rep. Cannon said was scuttled in its early stages.

Rep. Cannon also favored a bill earlier this year to exempt religious colleges from certain accreditation guidelines, such as rules on discriminating against gay students and teachers and requirements for courses that conflict with the schools' philosophy.

Joe Cannon said he sought his brother's support on behalf of BYU. The House bill passed on a voice vote.

Joe Cannon said he also introduced leaders of the Israel Policy Forum, a pro-Jewish group, to his brother and other Republicans the day fighting broke out in Lebanon earlier this summer.

''It doesn't make sense not to approach him just the way I would approach anybody else,'' Joe Cannon said. ''I believe his response would have been exactly the same if . . . someone else from my firm had talked with him.''

As for the unpaid debt to his brother, Joe Cannon said it stems from his own unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate 14 years ago.

Network Solutions said it was unaware of Joe Cannon's family ties when it hired his firm in April to rally opposition to the Internet agreement.

''I had never heard of Chris Cannon or Joe Cannon, '' said the company's chief counsel, Jonathon Nevett.

Rep. Cannon said his relationships with his brother's clients can be discerned by reviewing congressional lobbying reports. He did not mention in his July 7 letter that he was acting at his brother's request.

''The rules really come down to disclosure,'' the lawmaker said. ''It's easy to make the connections you made between me and my brother.''

* Cannon's Democratic opponent Christian Burridge cited Cannon's behavior in renewing a call for ethical reform in Congress, saying "Even Tom DeLay did not engage in this type of ethical lapse.

"This is just another instance in a long stream of questionable activities by Congressman Cannon and his brother," said Burridge. "It shows the Cannon brothers are involved in insider dealing while inside the beltway, and they are not focused on the interests of Utah.

"It's an obvious conflict of interest; there is a clear appearance of impropriety."