Bob Riley Quotes

As a senator, I will prioritize overturning the current system and restoring openness and integrity to our government to return power to the people.

Open the way before the new government to prove that it is for serving the people.

After all, I have spent the better part of my adult life insisting that government be open... that government be accessible... and that government be held accountable to people who voted us into office.

We, as citizens, are the true owners of government.

National security laws must protect national security. But they must also protect the public trust and preserve the ability of an informed electorate to hold its government to account.

All politicians will have to change to be worthy of our people.

Our democracy is predicated on the belief that our government should be accessible by the people. We cannot allow ourselves to give in to fear or shy away from interacting with the public.

I want the Congress that really is going to listen to the people. I really don't care what party it is anymore.

Ever since I arrived in Washington in April 2009, I have been fighting for more transparency and accountability in government.

When a government for the people becomes a government in spite of the people, then who are we really serving?

I will run an open government that speaks with honesty, seeks opinion, listens to its citizens.

No one in government should ever think that the citizens they work for can't or won't scrutinize their actions.

The Declaration of Independence says when government fails, the people have the right to replace it. Well, New York State government has failed and the people have the right, indeed the people have the the people have the obligation, to act.

Today we must make a pact with each other to end this reckless conduct with the people's government.

A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.

Too many people in government seem to think they are above regular folks, and I said I would expect humility in the way each member of my team served- that they would recognize that the taxpayer is boss.

The American people expect and deserve a government that works and leaders who work together.

Good government is good politics.

The citizens must be certain that the governor is attending to the duties for which he was elected.

The essence of good government is trust.

A government of, by and for the people is obligated to conduct the nation's business in a manner that respects dissent.

The American people need to know the truth. The American people need to see the truth. In a democracy, letting the people know the truth is the essence of what it means to be free.

A government for the people must depend for its success on the intelligence, the morality, the justice, and the interest of the people themselves.

If you present good government, then elections look after themselves.

The government serves the people - not vice-versa.