Cold Cash

After railing for months against Congressional corruption under Republican rule, Democrats on Capitol Hill are divided on how far their proposed ethics overhaul should go.

Those for the new ethics rules:

Representative Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, promised “the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history.”

Senator Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat, said he was pushing for changes with more teeth.

Those against them:

Representative John P. Murtha, Democrat of Pennsylvania, was embarrassed by disclosures last week that he had dismissed the leadership proposals with a vulgarity at a private meeting.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who will oversee any proposal as the incoming chairwoman of the Rules Committee, said she was opposed to an independent Congressional ethics watchdog.

I have a strong feeling that I can accurately guess what House Democrat William J. Jefferson (Rep Louisiana’s 2nd congressional district) thinks of these new proposals.