Kott, Keffer, Anderson, Downing, and Ulcak

Former Alaska House Speaker Pete Kott, a Republican, talking to a lobbyist on tapes made by the FBI in an ongoing bribery investigation there, quoted by the Washington Post: "I had to cheat, steal, beg, borrow and lie. Exxon's happy. BP's happy. I'll sell my soul to the devil."

Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, quoted in the Houston Chronicle on the House split over Speaker Tom Craddick: "If you talk to Texans, they don't want Austin to become Washington, D.C. They don't want a sterile political climate down there, where nobody can agree on anything and policy is put to the side and it's in-your-face politics and if you don't think exactly the way the leadership does you're going to hell."

Dr. Ron Anderson, CEO of Parkland Memorial Hospital, quoted in The Dallas Morning News on the state's failure to send money from red-light fines to health care, where they said they wanted it to go: "The state wanted something to watch the cities to make sure they didn't get out of control. Maybe someone needs to watch the state."

Clayton Downing, president of the Texas School Coalition, talking to The Dallas Morning News after 92 school districts won voter approval to raise taxes: "My hat's off to those districts that got their voters to go along with a higher tax rate. The results are going to stimulate others to hold their own elections next year, particularly with more and more districts being put in the position where they have to do it because they're hurting financially."

Chris Ulcak, acting principal at Barton Middle School in Kyle, on a new hugging ban there, on Austin's KVUE-TV: "We're not worried about the hugging part. We’re worried about not getting to class on time, and hugging has been the issue that’s causing that."