William Jefferson Quotations

Louisiana is last on the things that we ought to be first on, and first on the things we ought to be last on. We can do better than this,

If these people hadn't been poor and black, they wouldn't have been left in New Orleans in the first place.

I didn't want to have anybody with me, ... I was perfectly happy just by myself but they thought it was too risky. I regret that there was any need to have anybody there.

I was intending to go to my neighborhood for sure if I could get there. I didn't know what the condition was, ... I was curious to know and everybody in my family was curious to know: What was the condition of our house? Was it underwater? Was it looted?

I think it is unrealistic to appropriate $10 billion, $30 billion at a time, ... It's important to talk about the big number up front.

I was worried early on in the process. My hope is that it isn't powerful enough to do the damage it could do if it were open-ended.

People have to have a forum to express themselves. They feel very deeply that there has been an injustice against the African American community. ... There was no way to control it.

I tell folks all the time, I'm glad I was able to start out my life like that, but I'm also glad it's over,

This year we were $50 million short of what we thought we needed for hurricane protection,

To my knowledge, nothing resulted from the conversation -- the campaign did not receive any money from Judge Green or anyone who may have been prompted by him to contribute,

The response time and all of the rest of it -- I don't know if it has anything to do with the fact that people are black. It has to do with the fact that people are poor and desperate and left in a situation where they didn't have a way out,

These monies are used for food, diapers, medicines, and other essential items. For FEMA to cut off these funds now is unacceptable,

The spirit comes from football. If they won't come back for anything else, (the alumni) show up for football games.

the southeastern parishes including the New Orleans Metropolitan area.

The most important thing he said tonight was addressing poverty in the region, ... We have to do our best to attack it.

As Hurricane Wilma quickly approaches American soil, I fear that our federal response to emergencies is still lacking, ... could not gather that much has changed about where FEMA stands today as it stood at the time Katrina struck.

They treat me a little bit like someone at a funeral who just lost a loved one, ... They reach out and say how sorry they are. And that they want to help.

It's a very unique opportunity to learn about Bibles in China and a lot of the history ... and what the churches are facing now in China. There's never been anything like it.

It's an indictment of our whole society, that at the bottom of the rungs all the time are poor African-Americans.

That is a huge benefit for businesses trying to get started again.

I've just announced at a press conference that we're probably going to lose all services over night: sewage, drainage, water, etc., ... I cannot issue a mandatory. I do not have the resources to enforce it. However, I've just made the strongest message possible, and we will have police vehicles and fire vehicles going throughout Jefferson Parish with broadcasting advising people to leave now.

It will allow Entergy to pick up money in the tax code that they couldn't get through direct appropriation.

I have said $225 billion, ... These are not unrealistic numbers.

He said that the problem was in planning, not in execution, ... The weight of the evidence is that it was both.