Spitzer Backs Off Licensing Plan for Illegals

By Rick Moran

Under intense national pressure, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has shelved his controversial plan to give illegal aliens drivers licenses:

The governor, who is to announce the move formally on Wednesday, said in an interview Tuesday night that he did not reach the decision easily.

“You have perhaps seen me struggle with it because I thought we had a principled decision, and it’s not necessarily easy to back away from trying to move a debate forward,” he said.

But he came to believe the proposal would ultimately be blocked, he said, either by legal challenges, a vote by the Legislature to deny financing for the Department of Motor Vehicles or a refusal by upstate county clerks to carry it out.

Ed Lasky:

One can imaging that Hillary wishes this plan had been dropped before the last Democratic Presidential candidates forum.

The plan to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants is opposed by the majority of Americans on several grounds. Foremost among these is the sense that lawbreakers should not enjoy the benefits that are available to people who follow the law and that giving licenses to illegal immigrants would act as a spur to further immigration. Many of the 9/11 hijackers (8 out of 19) were illegally in America, yet had driver's licenses-one was stopped in the days before 9/11 for speeding.

The possession of a driver's license-as a form of government identification-paves the way for entrance onto airplanes, admittance into buildings, and facilitates the opening of bank accounts. Furthermore, as pointed out by John Fund, columnist at the Wall Street Journal, a driver's license-even in the hands of illegal aliens- is often all that is needed (especially in New York) to vote.

Governor Spitzer of New York and Senator Clinton apparently are apathetic regarding the possibilities of voter fraud when it favors a group that would come out in force for the Democrats (illegal aliens and their sympathizers).

Ed has brought up several excellent points including the plan giving a boost to more illegal immigration and it being an open invitation to vote fraud. And I found it telling that one of the reasons Spitzer gave for abandoning the plan was the idea of a mutiny by upstate GOP county clerks not to carry out any such plan.

Indeed, this issue is pure poison - something Hillary Clinton recognized two weeks ago when she was turning backflips in order to avoid answering the question posed by moderator Tim Russert. Polls show 80% of Americans opposing the idea of giving illegals drivers licenses - a potential wedge issue for Republicans next year.

Not part of that 80% who oppose the license idea is Barack Obama who has come out four-square for the plan. While his Democratic rivals are unlikely to take him to task for it, in any general election campaign, the GOP would skewer him on the issue.

It is unlikely that voters have heard the last of this issue for 2008.