Good news to wrap up this week:  President Bush today signed into law the most important ethics and lobby reform package since Watergate.  Hurrah!

Common Cause activists made all the difference in this fight.  You generated tens of thousands of letters, emails and phone calls to the Hill demanding reform.  And today, you got it.  We can't thank you enough for all you do for our democracy.

Listen to what some Congressional leaders had to say:

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi:  "Reformers made this happen! ...I want to thank the reform groups for their relentless persistence and leadership, their willingness to work together to help pound this out."

Senator Barack Obama:  "This bill was passed in large part due to the activists who have been on the front lines of reform and I want to thank them for their outstanding work."

Congressman Chris Van Hollen: "I want to give a very special thank you to the public interest community."

Congrats to everyone who worked so hard on this new law.  

This just in from the department of I Am Not Making This Up: After all the work to pass an ethics and lobbying reform bill, and passing both houses of Congress by overwhelming margins, President Bush is hesitant about signing the bill.

The White House, according to the Los Angeles Times, is worried that the bill doesn't go far enough to shed light on earmarks. White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore told the Times the administration "was concerned that the earmark provisions were not 'as strong as we'd like.' As to whether Bush would sign it, she said, 'We're continuing to review the legislation.'

What?

When I first heard this, I thought: Since when did Bush care about a bill to change Senate ethics rules? About the same time he decided Dick Cheney was in the legislative branch and not the executive branch?