Local clerk candidates oppose Spitzer’s license agenda

Plan would give driving licenses to illegal immigrants

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — Both candidates who are running to capture the county clerk’s office in November said Governor Eliot Spitzer’s plan to grant drivers licenses to illegal aliens is a bad idea.

Neil Gilbert, the clerk who was appointed by Spitzer to the position of Sullivan County Clerk in May and who is seeking to be elected to the position, said the plan would “undermine security in my state, that’s why I’m against it.

Dan Briggs, the former county manager who is running against Gilbert, is also against it. “I am diametrically opposed to that. I just think it’s not well thought out.

Spitzer has ordered that beginning in December, county clerks in New York State begin giving driver’s licenses to people who may be illegal immigrants, but who have valid passports or other forms of identification that do not necessarily carry proof of United States or New York State citizenship.

In an announcement released on September 29, Spitzer said, “The Department of Motor Vehicles estimates that tens of thousands of undocumented, unlicensed and uninsured drivers are currently on New York’s roads, contributing to increased accidents and hit-and-runs, as well as higher auto-insurance rates.

Spitzer argued that issuing licenses to undocumented aliens would result in lower insurance rates because the licensed drivers would be more inclined to carry car insurance, thus bringing down the cost of paying for accidents involving uninsured drivers.

Spitzer also said that the policy change would result in a safer homeland, “…by bringing more individuals into the system and, when necessary, assisting law enforcement efforts to locate those who present a real security threat.”

Many county clerks and state republicans are not buying it.

On October 4, at a meeting of the New York State Association of County Clerks, 29 clerks voted for a resolution that opposed Spitzer’s plan, while four showed support for it. The biggest complaint is that it will make the state less safe regarding the threat from possible terrorists. But also of concern was the possibility that the plan would lead to even more privileges for illegal aliens.

Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola appeared on a cable television news show and said, “I think it goes down to the voting part. I think once they’ve got that driver’s license, they’re gonna allow them to vote. And I think that’s the underlying aspect of it.”

Republicans in the senate have vowed to try to change the new policy with a law to be introduced later this month, and several county clerks outside of Sullivan County have said they will not comply with the new policy.

Spitzer said clerks who don’t comply would be fined and taken to court.

Currently, eight other states—Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington—do not require drivers to prove legal status in order to obtain a license.