1. "I have decided not to go to Langley."

—U.S. Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA, 9), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, on his decision not to go, after the CIA gave members of Smith's committee clearance and invited them to view photos of bin Laden's corpse at CIA headquarters.

"I support the President’s decision not to release the photographs. These images are not necessary to confirm that the mission to eliminate bin Laden was a success.  Distributing these violent images would also serve no purpose for our national security interests worldwide. Our focus should be on preventing new threats to the safety of the American people.”

2. "We're aware of it."

—Rob McKenna spokesman Dan Sytman's brief email to PubliCola after we asked for a response from McKenna re: state house Rep. Roger Goodman's (D-45, Kirkland) statment that McKenna is gung ho about defending states rights when it comes to challenging federal health care reform, but is silent when asked to defend Washington State's medical marijuana law. [pullquote]But 17 state senators can block the will of the majority of our 147-person Legislature to even place an expiration date on a tax loophole worth as little as a dime. —Rep. Reuven Carlyle[/pullquote]

3. "Today our committee passed a symbolic bill that will soon die a symbolic death. Still, I believe the public would rather see a bold, transparent and engaged political conversations about the systemic disconnect that exists in our state: It takes a simple majority to create a tax exemption that lives on forever. But 17 state senators can block the will of the majority of our 147-person Legislature to even place an expiration date on a tax loophole worth as little as a dime."

—State Rep. Reuven Carlyle (D-36, Queen Anne, Ballard) after voting to pass Rep. Laurie Jinkins' (D-27, Tacoma) bank loophole repeal out of the house ways and means committee yesterday to the house floor where it will die because it needs a two-thirds majority.

Jinkins' bill would raise $83 million by closing the controversial bank tax break on interest earned over $100,000 on first-time mortgage loans. The windfall would count as a revenue increase under Tim Eyman's I-1053 and need a two-thirds majority to pass.

4. "King County Metro - Southwest Seattle/Burien Service Improvements Project -- $1.5 million .... King County Metro - RapidRide D Line Project -- $3 million"

—A State House Transportation Committee report detailing the transit funding that was restored this week after green house members including Reps. Joe Fitzgibbon (D-34, Burien, W. Seattle) and Dave Upthegrove (D-33, Des Moines) objected to a substitute bill that house leadership wanted to pass instead to zap the transit funding.

5. "A staggering 75 percent of her contributions came from individuals who contributed $200 or less."

—OpenSecrets Blog in a post about Tea Party star Michele Bachmann's (R-Minn) impressive grassroots fundraising. Bachmann has raised $1.7 million in the first quarter this year, more than any other house member except for speaker John Boehner (R-OH).

House candidates typically raise between 5 percent and 10 percent of their money from donors who give $200 or less, according to the Campaign Finance Institute

While Bachmann has not yet proven that she could scale up her fund-raising capacity for the money needed to compete in a presidential, rather than a congressional, contest, her small-dollar donor fund-raising rate so far this year is higher than Obama's -- and exceeds that of the top Republican contenders four years ago.

6. "It simply isn’t accurate to say that the people of this region haven’t had input or say."

—Phil Bussey, President & CEO, Seattle Greater Chamber of Commerce in this week's, 71-comments-and-counting, PubliCola ThinkTank debate over the tunnel referendum.