Larry Noble Quotes

"We see this after every major disaster or tragedy. People are putting forward their wish lists and saying it's all connected to the hurricane. We saw it after 9-11. Everyone was saying then that it was national security."

"There?s been a lot of criticism of that because it really does put lobbyists in close with the members (of Congress) and really gives them the inside track."

"As a fund-raising strategy, it makes sense. As a matter of ethics, it looks terrible."

"He clearly gets donations from people who have business before the state and who are regulated by the state,"

"Microsoft, like every other company, gives because they think it is good for their business. They anticipate a positive return on their investment."

"This is an end run around the campaign finance laws. It does away with the contribution limits and it avoids disclosure, and it's a way for the special interests who are supporting him to buy access and buy influence."

"We've all been waiting to see what they do with those complaints, and I think it's positive that they have brought suit."

"seems to defeat the purpose of a blind trust. Somebody else is supposed to have control over it to avoid potential conflicts of interest. If you can just reach in and sell stock, it seems it defeats the whole purpose."

"You're never going to stop it all. It's a question of keeping it under some control."

"They do not have to convince the government to spend money on defense, really. Defense is a pretty secure area of the budget. In that sense, there is a built-in power that they have."

"DeLay set a new benchmark for fund raising and that's not going to go away."

"It's possible that the reason he sold the HCA stock was to have money to pay off the debt, but he hasn't said that, ... There's a number of financial actions going on here which fairly raise several questions.... They all could be part of one pattern or be separate things going on."

"This clearly sets up the appearance of a conflict that the state was obviously trying to avoid."

"[Anyway, Ms. Delahunt's role] raises the possible appearance of a conflict of interest, ... The question that people always ask is -- is his opposition principled or is it practical."

"A lobbyist is all about access and influence, and it's hard to imagine a better place to get influence than being treasurer of a candidate's campaign. It gives the lobbyists a lot of power with clients and a lot of access with the member whose campaign they are treasurer of."

"What you're seeing here is what happens when a pharmaceutical industry, through lobbying and campaign contributions and influence buying, gets a program that it wants. What the industry lobbied against was any type of uniform system, and they very much got free rein over what they were going to offer and how they were going to offer it."

"The declaration of net income for a year that the gross of the fees received far exceed the income limit is troubling."

"Most of the work goes on at the committee level. It's where contributors have the most influence. They're getting access, they're getting a friendly ear, they're getting assurances that their phone calls will be returned."

"It's one thing to bring in friends, people you are close to who are qualified for the job. It's another thing for people to be getting the job only because they are friends and they are not qualified for the job."

"The K St. Project really changed some of the fundamental rules of the game,"