As the U.S. House of Representatives continues to debate whether to even proceed with the ethics reform legislation, an editorial in today's Los Angeles Times calls for even stronger reform.  Yet, the House can't even manage to pass the bill before it:

The most positive change in the legislation would be one that Pelosi and Capuano aren't promoting -- subpoena power for the new office. Without that power, the office could find it difficult to assemble the sort of case against a member that would require the Ethics Committee to take notice. Capuano's bill would allow the office to identify potential targets of subpoenas in the reports it sends to the Ethics Committee, but that's a poor substitute for the ability to examine documents and witnesses itself.

Because House Republicans are cool to the creation of any independent ethics operation, Pelosi needs overwhelming support from her party to launch a new era in ethics enforcement. What matters isn't the number of Democrats who vote to create a new ethics office, but that office's ability to pursue allegations of wrongdoing into hidden recesses of lawmakers' dealings with lobbyists, contractors and contributors. A toothless watchdog would be as bad as no watchdog at all.