Political Quotes

“I really have appreciated sitting on the floor and listening to this dialogue because I think that there are some lessons here about getting things right. My friend from Virginia, my friend from Oregon have dealt with the ecological benefits of having apex predators to be able to restore ecological balance. I heard the notion of, ``Well, how would you feel if you were reintroducing wolves in metropolitan areas?'' and I just thought for a moment of listening in the past to people who are overrun with deer in Virginia suburbs, in Maryland suburbs. It is not just messing up their yards; it is killing people. We have several hundred people a year who are killed in collisions with deer. There are problems with chronic wasting disease that having an apex predator helps provide health benefits where you have healthier herds. I have watched the dynamic in Oregon, and it is complex because there are people who are ranching interests, there are people who are involved with hunting, and they want to short-circuit it, even in a State as ecologically and animal friendly as Oregon. It is a struggle. To take a step back, weakening the endangered species protections, substituting political judgments, I think, is inappropriate.…”