ON WHETHER POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS GET THE DONOR ANYTHING IN RETURN:
"People have made political contributions and gotten business. ...There's two sides, as many, probably more, people that have made political contributions and not done business."
ON HIS STANDARDS FOR AWARDING CONTRACTS:
"What I try to do is look for, based on experience, look for the best individuals and the best companies that are providing services or pitching services to us and then put them through a process that is hopefully consistent, and I think it has been over the years, and if it isn't, or if we find out there are holes in it, we try to make it better as we go forward."
ON PICKING STATE CONTRACTORS:
"Some issues like hiring law firms and doing business with banks at the Treasury is just a recommendation that comes to my decision, which means I don't have to ask anyone else's permission... Having that ability of being the sole decision-maker is a tremendous responsibility and there are a lot of risks in it because it's hard to find the checks and balances."
ON THE DIFFICULTY OF KEEPING POLITICS OUT OF THE PROCESS:
"We try to clear as much off the table as possible about anything extraneous like fundraising or any of the other things that go along with my political job and try to break it down into the facts of the case, much like you would in a law case, and just try to find out what is the best company and what service are they providing."
"I am confident that we keep a very, very tight wall between my political career and my public life in terms of the decisions I make. It is probably the hardest thing that I have to do. But I think I do it well."
"I think I do as good a job as anyone can possibly do knowing that at the end of the day it is still very difficult when you're in a public position, you control significant amounts of public contracts, and you are still out in the business of raising money and being a political candidate, or at least a viable, future political candidate..."
"In terms of fundraising, one bad story is, geez, you've fundraised and these people you do business with, and what's the connection? That's a bad story. The worst story is when you're not fundraising and you're not a viable candidate. And that's why it's a challenge for us. If I'm not a viable candidate, it's generally because I have not been able to raise money and no one will take me seriously. If I've raised money, people want to know where, how, what's the process, why are people being nice to you? Is it because they like you or is it because you're doing something for them? So I have always been aware of that, and that real big challenge between being viable and being able to raise money because I'm not personally wealthy and cannot write a check for myself to run this business, to run my operation, my political operation..."
"But at the same time never deviating from the plan of trying to bring the best vendors and working with the best people in the industry, people who would get business regardless of whether they support me or they don't support me. I think I can honestly say ...that whatever people did for me or will do for me in the future will not influence the decisions I make as an elected official."
ON FUNDRAISING CHALLENGES:
"People have different motivations. Some are clearly looking for an advantage. But I have tried never to take advantage of that situation, tried to keep very much the wall separate between what they want and what they don't want. My general rule of thumb is that unless I have a relationship with someone... then I won't ask them for support. Doesn't mean that they don't get invited to events that my committee has."
"Generally what I have found is that companies that have traditionally, historically done business with the Treasury will be people who will contribute to treasurers. That's just how it goes."
"We don't just hire people to hire people and we don't hire people to take political advantage for myself. They've got to be able to provide a role."
"I've never made it a requirement, and never will make it a requirement, and nobody is under any obligation to contribute to me for any reason other than they want to and they feel that I'm a good elected official."
ON HOW HE DECIDES WHO TO SOLICIT FOR CONTRIBUTIONS:
"My brother-in-law (Campaign Finance Chairman Anthony S. Falco) handles a lot of that. And, again, I don't provide him a list... It just sort of comes up. A lot of fundraising comes from lists generated by other fundraisers."
"We don't have a hard and fast system. We sometimes just sit there and brainstorm. ... Who can we call? Who are the people that we think can raise money?"
"Some we do business with in Treasury, some we don't."
"We do things that others do, unless we're not comfortable doing them."
"We get business cards all the time. And the way we look at it, it's a free country. I can ask. They can accept or they can deny. They can not return my phone call."
ON HOW HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW DECIDES WHO TO SOLICIT:
"I don't know sometimes how [Falco] knows. He doesn't contact the office so I don't know if he talks to other people."
ON DECIDING WHO MIGHT QUALIFY FOR STATE BUSINESS:
"I can generally tell within 15 minutes of a meeting whether someone is worthy of sending down to PRIM, or to debt, or to one of my other departments or down to the Lottery based on what I'm seeing and what they have to offer and sort of their backgrounds."
ON WHY HE HAS SUCH A HIGH RATE OF NON-DISCLOSURE OF THE OCCUPATION AND EMPLOYER OF HIS POLITICAL CONTRIBUTORS:
"We probably could be more diligent about tracking them down and actually finding out."
"Maybe we're not aggressive enough. ...But it's not with any intent to hide anything."
"Maybe some people think that it's on purpose or we're trying to hide something, but that's not the case. ...There's been never any intent, personal intent, to deceive anyone or not give anyone the information. I will take responsibility for not having it as thoroughly as we do have it. If there was an intent to try to hide it, we would just not list those names. ...And if I was embarrassed by any of it, we wouldn't accept it. Compared to others, we're not doing as good a job as we could, and that's my responsibility."
ON HIS KNOWLEDGE OF HIS CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISING:
"I outsource as much of the fundraising as I possibly can because I don't want to be as intimately involved with that part of the business because I don't want it to interfere with what I do. I'd prefer not to know sometimes what people do for me because I don't even want the thought to cross my head if I can avoid it. ...Sometimes ignorance is not an excuse or a defense."
ON HOW LIQUOR INTERESTS WERE SOLICITED RIGHT AFTER HE TOOK CONTROL OF THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES CONTROL COMMISSION:
"I'm sure it wasn't a coincidence. ...We had no direct involvement in getting the legislation changed. It was done at the Legislature's initiative."
"There was never any solicitation from me saying, 'Alright, let's reach out to these people, let's ask them.' ...Once people contribute, the easiest way to get to raise money is once you've raised it, to go back to the people who have contributed in the past."
ON WHETHER IT'S APPROPRIATE TO SOLICIT FUNDS FROM COMPANIES REGULATED BY THE ABCC, WHICH HAS LAW ENFORCEMENT POWERS:
"If I was to have a blanket prohibition against that, then I would not be a viable statewide candidate, and I don't want to take the ability of people who want to contribute to my campaign away from them to question any of their integrity or question my ability to separate the two."
ON HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH MICHAEL A. RUANE, WHOSE FIRM HAS BEEN GIVEN $500 MILLION TO INVEST SINCE HE BECAME TREASURER:
"I would say he's someone I've met through this business who I respect a great deal. He runs a great business and we're proud to have him as a manager of our funds because he does a great job for us."
ON WHETHER RUANE HAS RAISED SUBSTANTIAL FUNDS FOR HIM:
"He really hasn't. He hasn't. He hasn't. I know that someone told you this, but it's not the case. On a percentage basis, a very small amount. To the best of my knowledge, he helped with one fundraiser that we had back in 2004, 2005."
ON WHY OFFICIALS OF COMPANIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY WHO DO WORK FOR RUANE'S COMPANY APPEAR FREQUENTLY ON HIS FUNDRAISING REPORTS:
"If it's true, I mean obviously if they're on there, it's not because of Mike Ruane, that I know of. Again, when people make contributions to us, they're on the list, so they get solicited every year. And whether or not they give money or they don't give money is something that I don't generally know."
"To be honest with you, he helped me raise money one year. And that's all I do know. If people have given me money since then, it's because they've chosen to, not because Mike Ruane has made any phone calls. Nobody has, or nobody that I know of has, nobody on my behalf has called him... He is not a prolific fundraiser for me. And I'm certain of that."
"Whether Michael was helpful to me or not helpful to me or whatever level he was helpful to me, they've done a tremendous job at managing money, in good markets and in bad markets. ...But overall I think they're one of the best real estate firms that we invest with. And that statement has nothing to do with Michael's support of mine."
