Broussard, Bush, Riley, Joseph, Finn, Strayhorn, and Barrientos Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, on NBC-TV: "Nobody's coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody." Former First Lady Barbara Bush, taped by American Public Media's "Marketplace" while touring a survivors' site in Houston: "What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this is working very well for them." New Orleans Deputy Police Superintendent Warren Riley in The Dallas Morning News: "This city has been destroyed, has completely been destroyed. There's absolutely no reason to stay here. There are no jobs. There are no homes." Mary Joseph of New Orleans, talking to the New York Daily News about living in the Astrodome: "These people in Houston have done good by us. We thought the world had forgotten about us." Fordham Foundation President Chester Finn, in the Austin American-Statesman: "I'm persuaded by what I've already seen that with rare, eccentric exceptions, charter schools in Texas -- like charter schools almost everywhere in America -- are sorely underfunded in comparison with traditional, district-run schools. Indeed, it does not exaggerate to say they're being asked to make bricks with far too little straw." Republican gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn in The Paris News: "I have many fine friends who are Democrats and independents and strong Republicans, but there is no presidential election in 2006, and the governor's race will be decided in the primary... March 7 is governor's election day in Texas." State Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, announcing he won't seek reelection next year, ending a 32-year legislative run: "What I did more than anything else was to follow my heart. And now, after 30 years of pursuing this high calling, my heart is telling me to continue fighting for the things I believe in, but to find another way to wage that fight." 

Jefferson, Eckels, Fero, Perry, and Petty Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, telling a dinner audience the court has already decided school finance and that the decision will be public soon, quoted in the Midland Reporter-Telegram: "I can't say it will be definitive. There will be a decision from the court and the Legislature will do what it does." Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, telling the Associated Press that the Astrodome's current function isn't permanent: "This is a shelter, not a home, and it will not become a refugee center." Democratic consultant Kelly Fero, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "If these people decide they want to stay in Texas permanently, they deserve to be represented. And once that happens, I don't think they'll be satisfied with the social-service safety net that Texas provides, compared with that of Louisiana. So I think they'll be receptive to the Democratic message." Gov. Rick Perry, in a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt: "Without the guarantee of total federal funding for Medicaid services for evacuees in Texas, Texas taxpayers will be forced to bear a financial burden that, in effect, punishes them for opening their hearts and homes to fellow Americans in need." Bill Petty of Kerrville, telling the San Antonio Express-News about his sometimes neighbor, presidential advisor Karl Rove: "We see him out walking around getting a signal on the cell phone more than anything."