• Saying 'no' to this plan would not save these federal dollars from being spent or direct them to deficit reduction. No, Arizona's tax dollars would simply be passed to another state.
• Source: East Valley Tribune   |   Arizona   |   January 16, 2013
• Arizona GOP Gov. Jan Brewer, in her State of the State speech in which she pushed for Republican lawmakers to expand Medicaid under the federal health-care reform law that she fought in court.

• You can tell a story with statistics, but ... it makes us seem like we're just sitting there looking out the window doing nothing.
• Source: McClatchy/GOVERNING   |   North Carolina   |   January 15, 2013
• Dr. Gary Kushner, a children's dental program director of a local health department in North Carolina, which was recently ranked in the bottom five of states for school-based dental sealant treatment programs.

• There is no Democratic or Republican way of cleaning the streets.
• Source: GOVERNING   |   New York City   |   January 14, 2013
• Fiorello La Guardia, the former mayor of New York City from 1934 to 1945.

• You should be thankful you're not Illinois.
• Source: AP/Idaho Press-Tribune   |   Idaho   |   January 11, 2013
• Brian Kane, the chief deputy attorney general of Idaho, speaking to state lawmakers who for the first time are undergoing ethics training after a slew of scandals last year. Illinois, however, is notorious for its ethics scandals -- three of its newest legislators were sworn in this month while facing felony charges.
• 5 Comments

• Do I think it will be difficult to find $225 million? Yes. But can we continue to do this long-term destruction of the higher-ed system? No.
• Source: McClatchy/GOVERNING   |   Washington state   |   January 10, 2013
• Ross Hunter, a state lawmaker in Washington, where public-university presidents have agreed to freeze tuition for two years if the Legislature restores $225 million in state funding to higher education.

• It’s the dumbest idea I ever heard.
• Source: GOVERNING   |   New Jersey   |   January 9, 2013
• Then-New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, referring to pension obligation bonds. Read Governing's feature on the bonds, which some governments invest heavily in despite the fact that they've bankrupted whole cities.

• I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time.
• Source: Arizona Republic   |   Nation   |   January 8, 2013
• Arizona Congressman Raúl Grijalva, who said he is committed -- and hopes Congress is too -- to addressing immigration reform this year despite competition from looming legislative fights over the fiscal cliff and gun control.

• The people on [Pinterest] are mostly women, who just really want to put bad guys behind bars.
• Source: GT/GOVERNING   |   Nation   |   January 4, 2013
• Lauri Stevens, founder of Massachusetts-based LAwS Communications, on the effectiveness of Pinterest accounts that feature mug shots of people wanted by the local police.

• I've heard of people being killed playing ping-pong -- ping-pongs are more dangerous than guns.
• Source: Yahoo! News   |   Texas   |   January 4, 2013
• Incoming Texas state Rep. Kyle Kacal, who says that new gun restrictions are unnecessary.
• 2 Comments

• It’s time to take the gloves off, Jersey-style.
• Source: Newark Star-Ledger   |   New Jersey   |   January 3, 2013
• New Jersey Congressman Bill Pascrell, in response to the U.S. House of Representatives' decision to cancel a vote on a bill that would provide billions of dollars of aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy. Lawmakers' and governors' outrage caused the House GOP to reschedule a vote for Friday on part of the bill.

• Pseudoephedrine has become as good as currency.
• Source: AP   |   Tennessee   |   January 2, 2013
• Tom Farmer, coordinator of the Tennessee Methamphetamine and Pharmaceutical Task Force, discussing the sharp rise of meth labs in the nation's cities and suburbs. Meth lab seizures have tripled in the Nashville area over the past two years.

• What the president is proposing is not pragmatic whatsoever and it really is a reflection of him, I suppose, living in some type of fantasy world.
• Source: Politico   |   December 28, 2012
• Outgoing Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) discussing how fiscal cliff negotiations were going in an interview.

• So what we really want to make it is a bunny slope – not a real fiscal cliff.
• Source: Politico   |   December 27, 2012
• Former Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) speaking Wednesday about what the goals of Congress should be in regards to the fiscal cliff. He stressed that not all of the defense cuts take effect next year, so withholding the scheduled tax changes are the most important task in negotiations.

• “Rather than be bystanders, we have an opportunity...to use our company’s scale for good by sending a respectful and optimistic message to our elected officials to come together and reach common ground on this important issue
• Source: Politico   |   December 26, 2012
• Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, writing in a letter posted on the company’s blog. From Wednesday through Friday, Starbucks employees in Washington, D.C.,-area stores are being told to write “Come Together” on every cup of coffee they serve to encourage lawmakers to reach a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff.
• 2 Comments

• What’s next? Arm the students? If teachers wanted to carry guns in order to do their day job, they would have become policemen.
• Source: Washington Post   |   Virginia   |   December 21, 2012
• Richard L. Saslaw, minority leader of the Virginia state Senate, where a bill is being drafted to require some teachers or other school staff to carry concealed weapons in schools. The bill is in response to the recent mass shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school that left 20 children dead.