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11-14-2007, 06:31 PM
Spitzer Scraps Illegal Immigrant Voter Registration Plan
By Emily Bazar, USA TODAY
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has decided to abandon a controversial plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, his spokeswoman said Tuesday night.
The Democratic governor has a "very ambitious" policy agenda and wants to tackle other issues such as health care, spokeswoman Jennifer Givner said. The debate over the driver's licenses was preventing him from doing so.
"The Legislature has threatened to stall everything going on in Albany over this issue," she said. "That's not acceptable to the governor. Given the current climate, the idea to withdraw the plan is the best way to move forward."
The governor is due to meet today with New York's congressional delegation, many of whom oppose the program. Debate over the issue spilled into New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign.
Clinton has been criticized by her Democratic and Republican rivals for her non-committal answers on the subject. She has said she sympathizes with governors like Spitzer forced to confront the issue of immigration because the federal government has not acted on immigration reform.
The governor introduced the plan with the goal of increased security, safer roads and an opportunity to bring illegal immigrants "out of the shadows," he said.
Last month, Spitzer sought to salvage the license effort by striking a deal with the Department of Homeland Security to create three distinct types of state driver's licenses. An illegal immigrant would have received one that says "not for U.S. government purposes," meaning it could not be used to board airplanes or enter federal facilities.
Opponents, such as State Assembly Republican James Tedisco, charged Spitzer would make it easier for would-be terrorists to get identification and make the country less safe. Many New Yorkers agreed.
About 70% of New Yorkers opposed the license plan, according to a Siena College poll of 625 registered state voters released Tuesday. The poll, conducted Nov. 5-8, had a margin of error of +/—3.9 percentage points.
Twenty of the 51 clerks who run DMV offices had said they would refuse to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants if the change went into effect. Three had said they would issue the licenses, then turn over names of suspected illegal immigrants to immigration officials, said Kathleen Marchione, president of the New York State Association of County Clerks.
Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., planned to introduce legislation this week to bar states from issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
The policy may have been largely to blame for Spitzer's favorability rating among New Yorkers dipping to an all-time low of 41%. Only 25% of voters said they would re-elect him in three years.
The sinking popularity is a stunning turn for Spitzer, who was elected last November with 69% of the vote. In January, his favorability rating was at a high of 75%.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-11-13-spitzer-licenses_N.htm?csp=34ntributing: Wire reports
By Emily Bazar, USA TODAY
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has decided to abandon a controversial plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, his spokeswoman said Tuesday night.
The Democratic governor has a "very ambitious" policy agenda and wants to tackle other issues such as health care, spokeswoman Jennifer Givner said. The debate over the driver's licenses was preventing him from doing so.
"The Legislature has threatened to stall everything going on in Albany over this issue," she said. "That's not acceptable to the governor. Given the current climate, the idea to withdraw the plan is the best way to move forward."
The governor is due to meet today with New York's congressional delegation, many of whom oppose the program. Debate over the issue spilled into New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign.
Clinton has been criticized by her Democratic and Republican rivals for her non-committal answers on the subject. She has said she sympathizes with governors like Spitzer forced to confront the issue of immigration because the federal government has not acted on immigration reform.
The governor introduced the plan with the goal of increased security, safer roads and an opportunity to bring illegal immigrants "out of the shadows," he said.
Last month, Spitzer sought to salvage the license effort by striking a deal with the Department of Homeland Security to create three distinct types of state driver's licenses. An illegal immigrant would have received one that says "not for U.S. government purposes," meaning it could not be used to board airplanes or enter federal facilities.
Opponents, such as State Assembly Republican James Tedisco, charged Spitzer would make it easier for would-be terrorists to get identification and make the country less safe. Many New Yorkers agreed.
About 70% of New Yorkers opposed the license plan, according to a Siena College poll of 625 registered state voters released Tuesday. The poll, conducted Nov. 5-8, had a margin of error of +/—3.9 percentage points.
Twenty of the 51 clerks who run DMV offices had said they would refuse to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants if the change went into effect. Three had said they would issue the licenses, then turn over names of suspected illegal immigrants to immigration officials, said Kathleen Marchione, president of the New York State Association of County Clerks.
Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., planned to introduce legislation this week to bar states from issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
The policy may have been largely to blame for Spitzer's favorability rating among New Yorkers dipping to an all-time low of 41%. Only 25% of voters said they would re-elect him in three years.
The sinking popularity is a stunning turn for Spitzer, who was elected last November with 69% of the vote. In January, his favorability rating was at a high of 75%.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-11-13-spitzer-licenses_N.htm?csp=34ntributing: Wire reports