In their words
“Major League Baseball does a lot of good things, but this is one of the stupid things.”
— Houston Astros second baseman Craig Biggio after the baseball commissioner’s office ordered him to stop adorning his uniform hat with a pin promoting a foundation that helps children with cancer.
“The question arises as to whether any director can handle this job. And the further question arises as to whether the bureau itself can handle the job.”
— U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s questioning of FBI Director Robert Mueller about the agency’s role in defending the nation from terrorism.
“Patients freak out. They have this knee-jerk reaction: ‘I just want everything taken out.’ “
— Dr. Nora Hansen, director of the Lynn Sage Comprehensive Breast Center in Chicago, saying extensive use of MRI scans may be more effective at detecting breast cancer, but also might cause some women to overreact to minor cancers and obtain unneeded mastectomies.
“Make no mistake about it. Collective bargaining is not collective begging.”
— United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger, vowing to take a tough stand in this summer’s bargaining sessions with automakers.
“You took a bullet, so you are dead.”
— Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney Steve Tucker, saying last week’s fatal shooting of a transient by a Spokane police officer does not call for a coroner’s inquest because the cause of death is clear.
“If we leave over $1 billion on the table, then frankly someone else will spend it for us.”
— Washington state Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, warning that if lawmakers leave too much money unspent, initiative writers could go after it.
“It’s said by a lot of people that if you can have a good year, boy, this is a place where you’ve got to take a look to go elsewhere.”
— Washington State University’s first-year head basketball coach Tony Bennett, after the school relieved Cougar fans by announcing a tentative contract agreement that would remove immediate worries over Bennett’s being lured to another school.
“I dropped a zero. I put the wrong number in. There’s about 10,000 numbers in this budget.”
— Washington legislative staffer Brian Sims, explaining how a typographical error in the state Senate’s budget resulted in a reduction of more than $2 million in the appropriation for a YMCA/YWCA building in Spokane.
“I’m going to have to dig a suit out. I packed my car last night.”
— Idaho state Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, speaking from Boise on Thursday after the collapse of a highway financing plan disrupted the Legislature’s hopes of adjourning that day.