As they see it.

• Position: Brief article

"It is better to have a good bill than a perfect press release."

--New York Senator Daniel L. Squadron, in The New York Times, about a proposed ethics overhaul.

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"Under current law, it's OK [for lawmakers] to take tickets to concerts, tickets for out-of-state travel, for stock car races. That's fine, but I'd rather go home and watch it on TV."

--Georgia's new House Speaker David Ralston, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"You really can't take politics, re-election politics, out of the equation. It makes everything harder. It makes everything more unpredictable. It makes everything more intense."

--Alabama Senator Hank Sanders, about the 2010 legislative session, in The Birmingham News.

"Just to wave a wand and say by increasing the number without providing significant additional dollars doesn't seem to be anything but an empty promise to me."

--Kentucky Senate President David Williams, on FOX 41, about a bill that would increase from 16 to 18 the age students could drop out of school.

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