Declarations

Naked on Wall Street

“You always find out who’s been swimming naked when the tide goes out. We found out that Wall Street has been kind of a nudist beach.”

—Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett who also told Reuters that the U.S. economy is still in a recession and unlikely to improve before 2009 but that stocks appear better valued than a year ago.

In Retrospect

“Poor judgment.”

—Former Passaic, New Jersey Mayor Samuel Rivera, 61, commenting on the chain of events that led to his being fined $4,000 and sentenced to nearly two years in jail for accepting cash bribes in exchange for influencing city insurance contracts. Rivera was caught in a corruption scheme that has netted 11 public officials and a private citizen. Rivera admitted taking $5,000 in exchange for helping a company become the city’s insurance broker. The company turned out to be an FBI front.

Flagging Support

“The governor was clearly elected on a mandate for change and this is real change. This is the type of reform that the public have been clamoring for. If 49 other states can strike a balance between public safety and saving money, we can too.”

—Massachusetts state Senator Steve Baddour, commenting on a proposal by Gov. Deval Patrick to use civilian traffic flaggers – rather than paid police details – to monitor traffic at construction sites. Proponents say the plan could save $100 million a year. Opponents say the plan will compromise public safety.

Licking the Problem

“To people who may be doubting Thomases, go in and lick the wall in here. It’s clean, it’s healthy, it’s real.”

—Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch announcing that the planned cleanup of up to 600 housing units contaminated by lead paint is going out to bid. The cleanup will be partially paid by a $12.5 million settlement reached with DuPont Co. Numerous other paint manufacturers, however, recently had verdicts in the cases against them thrown out. The DuPont deal drew scrutiny because Lynch had taken campaign contributions from people with ties to DuPont. Lynch said he hoped the cleanup would quiet skepticism about the deal.

Different Proscription

“We think there are a lot of problems.”

—Russ Haven of the New York Public Interest Research Group, commenting on a decision by N.Y. Gov. David Paterson to freeze malpractice insurance rates. Doctors claims that high insurance rates are driving them out of the state and reducing availability of care; NYPIRG blames bad doctors making mistakes, and the way insurance companies rate the insurance risk of physicians.