"If you have a Republican Party you have to be nice to your opposition because you're going to need them in the general election. We don't need anybody in the general election, so it makes it harder for Democrats to work together and stay focused. … I'm not advocating that we have a Republican Party, but, you know, it wouldn't hurt."

On the death of the Berwyn Heights mayor's dogs in a raid:

"Look, and I apolo – and I couldn't feel worse than anyone that those dogs were killed. The poor animals were victims in this situation, and I do agree with that."

On the death of inmate Ronnie White:

"The idea that someone would be killed at our jail is bigger than people may look at it in a vacuum. Individuals should not die in the custody of the state when the state is required to protect them."

On furloughs:

"Who wants to furlough people? Nobody wants to do that. But we aren't going to be the only government that ends up doing that. All of the governments are either going to furlough or they're going to lay off. It's just that we saw it coming quicker and we did it earlier."

On criticism that he granted

contracts and jobs to friends:

"There's no way that you can be the county executive in this county unless you know a whole lot of people. And when you come into government, you try to hire people that you are confident in, that are really smart, that you know are going to get the job done. I think part of our success is that we have picked people that really care about this community and want it to be successful."

On term limits and his relationship with the County Council:

"Term limits, I think hurt. It doesn't create stability and relationships. It doesn't create stability in leadership. After six years, we got it together. We understand. We could not have done the furlough the first year because we didn't understand what it took to bring all of us together. Now that we understand it all, we're ready to pack it up and go, and that's a problem, too."

On having a corrections center with the highest number of inmate deaths since 2000:

"Unfortunately, there are groups of people that live a certain lifestyle, they shoot up themselves up with drugs … and when they come to the corrections center they are in the worst medical condition you can ever imagine. I want the citizens to understand that."