Today's issue of Roll Call has a (subscription only) story about the Congressional GOP making different funding arrangments for a caucus retreat that traditionally had been funded largely by DC lobbyists.  Apparently, these Republicans are wary of taking gifts from lobbyists --now that they know the public is watching...

House Republicans’ high-profile embrace of lobbying reform and the possibility of a sweeping private travel ban has prompted GOP leaders to change the funding formula — and the list of attendees — for their upcoming retreat just three weeks before the event is scheduled to take place.

Republican lawmakers usually pay for their travel and lodging costs at the annual gatherings...out of their re-election accounts or even out of their own pockets. But staffers’ expenses and other logistical costs have for the last several years been covered by the Congressional Institute, a nonprofit group that is run by GOP lobbyists and funded by corporate donations.

But given the media's proclivity for painting the Congressional ethics scandal as a "bipartisan scandal", perhaps the most compelling point is buried in the story's final sentence, which states:

A travel ban would not likely affect House Democrats’ future retreats, since their gatherings are not funded by any outside groups.

Rational observers might suspect that facts like this one might color the news media's reporting of ethics reform packages submitted by each Congressional caucus.  Yet, incongruously, the mainstream media proceeds to cover both Republican and Democratic reform proposals as though each is equally serious about standards of ethics for the Congress.

An old saying about "deeds, not words" springs immediately to mind...