Politicians speak
"Draconian cuts are needed. I'm all for the poor people and the
downtrodden and all that kind of stuff, but we just have to make
draconian cuts."
- Newport Beach Mayor Tod Ridgeway on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's
plans to make deep cuts in the state budget.
"We're going to spend what we need to spend. It's a modest amount.
We always figured if we spent half [as much as Cristi Cristich], we'd
win it."
- Chuck DeVore, 70th Assembly District candidate, who re-ported
raising $336,000 for his campaign in 2003, less than half the
$703,000 raised by Cristich, his opponent in the Republican primary.
"The speech reflected the two sides of George Bush. It showed his
tough side, when he exhibited a firm stand against terrorism, clearly
jabbing some of the Democrats who had been backbiting and nitpicking
about some of those issues. He was able to do all that while
maintaining his presidential aura."
- Rep. Dana Rohrabacher on the president's state of the union
speech.
"I feel great. We worked really hard. It finally paid off."
- Katrina Foley, then Costa Mesa planning commissioner, who was
the top vote-getter in this year's City Council election.
"We're the policymakers, and I think we blew it with respect to
putting [property owners] on notice."=
- Newport Beach Councilman Steve Bromberg, on resi-dents'
complaints about how the discussions about the Newport Coast
Elementary School access road were handled.
"We really worked hard to do this. It was an uphill battle to do
this, because many of the major institutions in the city endorsed
others. I feel like it was worth the effort, and I can't wait to get
to work."
- Eric Bever, Costa Mesa planning commissioner, who won the third
seat available on the Costa Mesa council.
Lawyers speak
"A simple apology is just not enough after your whole emotional
life has been stolen from you. Jail would be nice, but it's not
possible. All these people have left is a civil remedy."
- John Manly, an attorney who represented 80 victims of alleged
abuse in the Catholic Church, eight of whom are from Newport-Mesa.
Coaches on the firing line
"On all matters, we cannot speak on the reasons for the integrity
of the school and the rights of the coach, even if the story is
one-sided."
- Fred Navarro, Costa Mesa High School principal, during a meeting
with players and their parents about the firing of football coach
Dave Perkins.
"Why did you fire our coach?"
- Juan Diaz, a Costa Mesa High School football player, during the
same meeting.
