Spitzer Caves on Licenses for Illegals
Despite the fact that New York’s Governor, Elliot Spitzer, claimed that driver’s licenses were the best thing next to sliced bread, he has caved into pressure and will not be pursuing his original goal of getting all illegals in his state driver’s licenses.
Spitzer said he was giving up because he had concluded that “New York state cannot successfully address this problem on its own.” He said he wanted to act because of the failure of the federal government to deal with immigration policy and the impact that failure was having on New York.
The fact that this policy was, and is, damaging his political career, of course, has nothing to do with his current backpedaling.
Spitzer acknowledged that “you don’t need a stethoscope to hear the heartbeat of the public,” saying he had concluded that opposition to his plan would have doomed it.
Yes, he heard the nails in his political coffin and decided not to piss off the public. Further indications that this plan was abandoned due to politics can be found in the NY Post:
Spitzer aides said the decision was made because the firestorm over the issue was blocking the governor’s overall agenda, and there were serious concerns that various lawsuits, as well as threatened legislative action, would block the plan anyway. There was also anxiety about the negative impact the issue was having on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton‘s presidential campaign.
It’s abundantly clear that Spitzer caved only because he wants to be re-elected. If more than 25 percent supported him right now, New Yorkers would be faced with footing the bill on this one.
