Feingold, Obama introducing ethics senate bill

As a way to please the electorate, there is nothing better for a politician than proposing an ethics bill.

Not that ethics legislation isn't needed, of course.

Yesterday, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Barack Obama (D-IL) announced in a press conference their intention to introduce legislation to set up an independent office to investigate ethics concerns among the 100 members in the upper chamber.

One thing the pair is looking at is forcing senators to pay the charter, not the estimated first-class airline fare, when flying on a lobbyists' corporate jet.

As far as I can tell, there is no intention in regulating book advances for senators or senator-elects, giving senators the tougher rules that House members tend with when they write books.

It's a moot point now, since his book, The Audacity of Hope, is a best-seller and he would have made a lot of money anyway, but shouldn't the Senate--and Obama--have to follow the same guidelines on advances?

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