Political Quotes

“I rise toady in favor of the Conyers-Schumer substitute that will be offered later on this afternoon. I say to my friends on the Republican side of the aisle that I have voted for many of the pieces of legislation that they have brought forth in this this session of Congress because I agreed with them and I felt they were right. But I urge my friends to reconsider what they propose doing to the cops-on-the-streets program. I have spent 14 years in law enforcement, 7 as a county sheriff. And I believe in my heart that if we are going to win the war against crime, to make a significant contribution to reducing crime, we need more police officers on the street. A clergyman friend of mine once told me that 85 percent of success in anything is physical presence. All of us know that is true in politics. But if you ask anyone in law enforcement what they think about the physical presence of police officers on the street, they will tell you that it works, it will reduce crime, it will have the neighborhoods be involved with the community, and would have a positive reflection on the crime rate. I also say to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that they should spend time in their districts, where we had police community grants awarded last year. I did that this past weekend. I spent time in the borough of Pottstown, which received Federal funding for two police officers about 10 months ago.…”