• We've become a very snobby society.
• Source: Twitter   |   Georgia   |   May 30, 2013
• Nancy Denson, mayor of Athens, Ga., speaking at Governing's Georgia Leadership forum, on the belief that everyone needs to go to college.

• None. No reaction. None. Look, my face didn't move. No reaction.
• Source: Twitter   |   New York   |   May 29, 2013
• New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, on news that Anthony Weiner is running for New York City Mayor.

• We shouldn’t be putting on lab coats individually and take action on this amendment.
• Source: Politico   |   Nation   |   May 24, 2013
• U.S. Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, during a floor debate over an amendment to the farm bill that would have allowed states to impose their own labeling on food products with genetically modified ingredients. The amendment failed 27-71.

• This will probably be a wake-up call for DOTs everywhere to look at the types of over-sized loads they're permitting and whether or not they have these kinds of bridges.
• Source: Governing   |   Washington state   |   May 24, 2013
• Paula Hammond, the former head of the Washington State Department of Transportation, referring to the bridge north of Seattle that collapsed into the Skagit River Friday after a truck with a high load crashed into an upper part of the span.

• I don’t think there is a Dow Jones Industrial Average for border security.
• Source: Governing   |   Nation   |   May 23, 2013
• Erik Lee, from the North American Center for Transborder Studies at Arizona State University, on the lack of an agreed-upon method for determining how secure the United States border with Mexico is.

• We don't depend on tax gimmicks. We not only comply with the laws, but we comply with the spirit of the laws.
• Source: The Los Angeles Times   |   Nation   |   May 22, 2013
• Apple CEO Tim Cook, in testimony before the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has issued a report that accuses the company of using overseas subsidiaries to avoid billions in U.S. taxes.
• 1 Comments

• We’re just completely opening up the whole state to alcohol -- every family, every home, every block.
• Source: Stateline   |   Alabama   |   May 21, 2013
• Alabama state Rep. Arthur Payne, during a lengthy debate over a bill that made it the 49th state to allow residents to brew beer in their homes. Mississippi legalized home brewing shortly after.
• 1 Comments

• I've seen Third World countries with parks better than this.
• Source: Governing   |   Miami   |   May 20, 2013
• A Miami resident said referring to a new "park," which consists of a couple of springy playground rides and some patches of poorly sodded grass, that was redefined as such to force sex offenders to move out of the area.

• It’s getting almost to the point that you need a government permit in order to die in this state.
• Source: Governing   |   Oklahoma   |   May 17, 2013
• University of Tulsa law professor Marguerite Chapman, on new end-of-life care legislation in Oklahoma that says patients who are disabled, elderly or terminally ill cannot be denied life-preserving treatments if they or their health proxies want it.

• This recommendation criminalizes behavior that is completely responsible.
• Source: Politico   |   Nation   |   May 16, 2013
• American Beverage Institute Managing Director Sarah Longwell, on why the organization opposes the National Transportation Safety Board's new recommendation to lower the legal limit for drunk driving .08 to 0.05 percent.

• They are a cancer on the otherwise healthy right-to-know law.
• Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer   |   Pennsylvania   |   May 15, 2013
• Executive Director Terry Mutchler of the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, telling a Senate committee that charter schools in the state routinely ignore public records requests despite receiving $1 billion in public funds each year.

• I am sure that there are people in this caucus who would have a hard time voting for both [gay marriage and gun control].
• Source: The Minneapolis Star-Tribune   |   May 14, 2013
• Minnesota state representative Michael Paymar, explaining how shelving his controversial gun-control bill may have made it easier for rural area Democrats in the legislature to vote for a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. Yesterday the senate passed same-sex marriage and Gov. Mark Dayton is expected to sign the bill into law today.

• Just as we see the states as a laboratory for democracy, we think the developing nations are a laboratory for the future of health-care systems.
• Source: Governing   |   May 13, 2013
• Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, talking about the future of the health-care industry in America. His company is testing new health-care models in China because there are fewer economic and political barriers to reform efforts.

• The expectation that public life occurs in front of the council dais is a dying concept.
• Source: Governing   |   May 10, 2013
• Anne Ambrose, director of public safety and community relations for Palmdale, Calif., talking about the importance of government engaging citizens in new ways. Read more about how Generation X is helping to make that happen.

• We shouldn’t be profiting from our students who are drowning in debt while we’re giving great deals to big banks.
• Source: Politico   |   Nation   |   May 9, 2013
• U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who's proposed a bill that would provide relief to college students by allowing them to borrow at interest rates equivalent to those the Federal Reserve offers to big banks.
• 1 Comments