Dana Bash of CNN just tweeted that two sources told her that Anthony Weiner made it clear to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi that he wouldn’t resign. That is apparently what led both the former speaker and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Steve Israel to call for a House Ethics investigation into Weiner’s behavior.

Give some credit to the Democratic leadership on this. They know that if Weiner stays on in the House, as he clearly intends to, the party’s loose attitude about ethics will be draped around their necks in the next year and a half. That is especially true since House Speaker John Boehner dealt so expeditiously with the Republican’s similar problem with former New York Congressman Chris Lee. While Weiner can claim, as he did at his embarrassing presser this afternoon, that his misbehavior did not violate his oath of office, his fellow Democrats may feel that his week of lying and abuse of the press compromised them as much as it did him.

It’s not clear what a House Ethics Committee investigation will accomplish in the Weiner case though if he sexted any underage women, Weiner will have more to worry about than a possible censure from his colleagues. Pelosi’s announcement may just be the beginning of a Democratic campaign of pressure to force Weiner to resign.