Dick Durbin Quotes
It is absolutely unacceptable to single out any political group - right, left, or center - and say we're going to target them. That is unthinkable.
Durbin, Dick. Interview by Chris Wallace. Fox News Sunday, Fox News, 12 May 2013.
Before and while he was prime minister, he was the owner of most of the television and other media in Italy and one of the wealthiest men in that country. He was, like many politicians the world over, a womanizer, but he had a penchant for underage girls and was found guilty of not only having sex with them but sometimes paying them. He had also been convicted of tax evasion. He felt he was persecuted because in Italy, almost all the rich businessmen cheat on their taxes—it’s a national sport, and older men have been sexually exploiting young girls for centuries. So he argues that if he were not a visible conservative politician, he never would have been prosecuted for these “crimes” which were very common in Italy. He was extremely conservative on the Italian political spectrum, and most Italians were to his left, and that is true for the judges and magistrates in Italy, so there was no way that he could interact with judges / magistrates who were not more left wing than he.
The Inspector General of the Justice Department and a Congressional committee found his actions illegal. Schlozman, a Republican Assistant Attorney General, had violated the Civil Service Reform Act by hiring attorneys on the basis of their political affiliation and later made false statements in his sworn testimony to Congress about his hiring decisions. He wanted people who he could count on to follow his lead and not prevent Southern States from changing their election laws and thus be able to discriminate against Blacks in voting, as was required by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This quotation is often cited by Civil Service supporters to show what can happen when a political appointee can fire government employees and replace them with people who will agree with him on matters of political ideology.
As a woman, Anthony was found guilty of “illegal voting” in the Presidential election of 1872. Fining her $100 the judge asked if she had anything to say. This was her reply.
The marshal was embarrassed by his assignment to arrest this famous, elderly woman. He refused to handcuff her, gave her time to change her clothes, and took Anthony by streetcar to the courthouse trying to keep as low a profile as possible while Anthony was making speeches all the way about her unjust arrest. She was found guilty and fined $100 which she never paid.
Richard Joseph Durbin is an American attorney and politician serving as the senior United States Senator from Illinois, a seat he was first elected to in 1996. He has been Senate Democratic Whip since 2005, the second-highest position in the Democratic leadership in the Senate, and Senate Majority Whip since 2021. He chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.
