Posted on 10/24/2007 6:27:33 PM PDT by xcamel
Gov. Eliot Spitzer's proposed loosening of driver's license rules for undocumented immigrants has triggered statewide controversy, but it actually would move the state closer to a policy in effect during most of the Pataki administration.
Under Spitzer's plan, undocumented immigrants could more easily get licenses. They would need to provide a valid foreign passport and state that they have no Social Security number.
While Spitzer has said the plan would make roads safer and cut car insurance premiums for everyone, critics have said it would compromise security by eliminating the Department of Motor Vehicles' requirement that applicants prove their immigration status. That requirement was instituted in 2003 by then-Gov. George Pataki.
Pataki made his change with no formal announcement, in contrast to Spitzer, who has defended his proposal in speeches statewide.
Pataki's 2003 changes sought to tighten regulations that had been put into place earlier in his governorship - in 1995.
That earlier change had nothing to do with illegal immigration. It was made to improve collection of child support payments by tracking people's Social Security numbers, Spitzer's office said.
In 1995, the state began to require that motorists without Social Security numbers show proof they could not get the number. Applicants had to show a Social Security Administration form stating the applicant did not have a Social Security number and was not entitled to one.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Leave it to Spitzer to make Pataki look like Roosevelt.
Is there no one in NY who has any brains or integrity?
Gee, that’s fine. Now a drivers license is worth poop for identification. What is next?
Well, I do...
...but I’m not a part of the government. Brains and integrity have been substituted with union influence and liberal elitism.
Why don’t you run for office? The big problem with the conservatives is that none of them want to be part of government.
I would honestly love to... but I’m only in my early 20s right now and don’t have the funds or connections to devote to a campaign, nor do I have the option to just drop everything and go for it. Perhaps some time in the near future once things stabilize I’ll make a run for office.
Look around. Look for the right opportunity. And be aggressive and tenacious.
I remember many years ago, I was a high school student in Dearborn MI. I was interviewed for a scholarship. Not a big one, pretty much an honorary one.
I met with a guy who was a graduate of U of M. I said something that made him think I was interested in politics. He asked if I was interested in Dearborn politics. I told him I was. He asked me what I thought.
At that time, Dearborn was governed by a mayor who was a 45 year incumbent. You can still find a colorful description of his reign on the internet. His name was Orville Hubbard.
He was no one who could be beat. His claim to fame was that he kept the “City clean,” meaning, in code, that he kept it white—not thru the most honorable means, either.
I told this guy that I thought there was room for improvement.
It turned out that the guy was one of our local perennial candidates. He’d run a couple of times against the mayor and lost.
Later, he ran for city council and won. They said that he won because his name had appeared on the ballot so many times that everyone knew who he was.
Just something to keep in mind. The system is not unbeatable. And God knows we need help.
BTW, I think Hubbard was about your age when he first ran for office.
ping
Can someone explain why these people just can’t use their REAL ID? Mexican drivers licenses and trucks are perfectly legal in the US...
Yes, but they can't VOTE ... and thats what this is all about, connect the dots and read between the lines, this is just another Dem tactic to get non-citizens on the voter rolls via the Motor Voter law. This has nothing to do with Spitzer's ruse that it will 'make the roads safer" etc etc ... its all about VOTES, illegal votes at that.
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