I couldn’t believe my eyes as I read the buffalo News story about Spitzer allowing Illegal Immigrants to get driver licences in NYS. What was even more offending was Hamburg’s own Kathy Hochul backing up her boss on his decision. This is it folks, the beginning of the end of NYS.
With millions of illegal immigrants flooding into our country every year and our trusty elected officials holding the door open to them the only thing left for us real citizens are second class status and low paying jobs. Kathy Hochul standing behind Spitzer shows me she only cares about her own job and not the rest of us who need them. What’s next? Will she and the governor allow illegals to become citizens without any requests or requirements to do so?
Our county is falling apart at the seams financially and Kathy Hochul and Elliot Spitzer are only thinking about the minority vote to secure their future of patronage and kickbacks. I think this should be a wake up call for everyone considering voting for Kathy Hochul as Erie County Clerk this year. With her it’s always been politics as usual and you the citizen are nothing more than a paycheck for her.
http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/173061.html
Spitzer’s driver’s license policy for illegal immigrants draws wide criticism
Critics site concerns of national security
By Tom Precious - News Albany Bureau
Updated: 09/29/07 8:46 AM
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- File photo
- Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer listened to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver last week during a news conference announcing the plan to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer listened to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver last week during a news conference announcing the plan to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses
ALBANY — Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s order that permits illegal immigrants to obtain New York state driver’s licenses is meeting fierce resistance across the state, with opponents ranging from families of September 11 terrorist victims, to county clerks to state lawmakers, to the mayor of New York City.
One critic in the Legislature called the governor’s plan “nutsy,” and all say that Spitzer’s action threatens the state’s security and is also illegal without legislative approval.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg raised questions about the idea Thursday, saying that the city’s lawyer “does believe that in fact this would make New York’s state driver’s licenses ineligible to be used to get on an airplane.”
He added: “I’m really skeptical that we should be issuing driver’s licenses willy-nilly, because it then leads to lots of other problems in terms of voter registration and other things. But it’s the governor’s call.”
But the governor has dug in his heels, insisting he holds the authority to arbitrarily change the licensing requirements, and the administration threatened legal action against any county clerks who refuse.
Spitzer, in a Rochester appearance Thursday, derided Bloomberg’s position as “dead wrong, factually wrong, legally wrong, morally wrong, ethically wrong.”
Spitzer allies, especially labor unions and immigrant rights groups, are defending his plan and calling critics “anti-immigration extremists” trying to tar illegal immigrants as terrorists.
A week after Spitzer announced the new policy for a state with at least 500,000 illegal aliens, Assembly Republicans on Friday threatened to go to court to block the relaxation of the license rules, arguing the administration cannot unilaterally push through a policy change that would violate a law concerning what documents are needed for a license.
Senate Republicans said they plan to use a special session next month to pass legislation stopping the new license rules. But with the Democratic leadership of the Assembly backing the governor, the Republican bill will be a largely political statement.
For the governor, the policy change embraces a vow he made to some political supporters last fall.
The governor says the driver’s license change is necessary to help bring illegal immigrants “out of the shadows.” Many illegal aliens drive without licenses and therefore carry no insurance, state officials say. When accidents occur, that leads to few financial and legal protections for legal drivers.
The policy change ends a rule that kicked in after the September 11 terror attacks, requiring license applicants to submit Social Security numbers to prove they are legal residents or a government letter stating they are not eligible for a Social Security number. Under the new policy, illegal immigrants can now get a license if they present a valid foreign passport.
“It is a recognition that there are illegal aliens in New York and there will always be illegal aliens in New York,” said Michael Berger, a Buffalo immigration lawyer who backs the policy. Encouraging illegal immigrants to get auto insurance will benefit all drivers, he said.
Berger, who is representing an alleged terrorist, said the state will not be less safe because of the change.
“There is a reality that a terrorist can probably get any forged document he needs. They are not amateurs,” he said.
But New York, of all states, should be cautious about anything that could increase terrorist risks, said Neil Berro, director of the New York-based Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License.
He noted that a federal commission that studied the 2001 World Trade Center attacks concluded that travel documents were just as important as weapons to the terrorists in carrying out their plans.
“Homeland security must trump immigration politics and, for that matter, political promises tendered during an election campaign,” said Berro, whose group includes several families who lost loved ones in the September 11 attacks. They are pressing for more restrictions on how driver’s licenses are issued.
On the front lines are county clerks who handle the state’s driver’s license program. In the Albany area, two county clerks — from Rensselaer and Saratoga — say they will ignore Spitzer’s new edict.
“This is a travesty that we are being asked to do this,” said Saratoga County Clerk Kathleen Marchione, president of the state’s county clerks’ association.
Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul, appointed to her job by Spitzer, said she is an agent of the state when it comes to the motor vehicle law and will carry out Spitzer’s policy.
“I have no ability to pick and choose the laws we follow,” she said. Hochul said she has voiced some “security concerns” about the Spitzer decision to the state Department of Motor Vehicles. But she also said there are safeguards, such as other forms of identification still needed and that a license can be denied during an interim period if officials find a passport is fraudulent.
In Niagara County, Clerk Wayne Jagow said the new policy “waters down the credibility of the New York driver’s license.” In the past year, the county’s DMV offices rejected 940 applicants — in Erie County the number was 4,500 — for licenses because they lacked social security numbers. Those people will be getting letters now inviting them to get a driver’s license.
A looming problem, critics say, is that this will put the state in even greater conflict with a federal law designed to tighten requirements for driver’s licenses. They say it would require U.S. citizens who are residents of New York to show a passport to board a plane for domestic travel.
The Spitzer administration insists that federal requirement will change before the provision kicks in, in 2013.
Denis Hughes, president of the state AFL-CIO, said the policy will “shine a light on those who are willing to become productive members of our society and work force.”
At a DMV office at the Erie Community College’s North Campus, Rep. Thomas Reynolds called the Spitzer plan “bad policy exacerbating our broken immigration system.” He said the new plan comes as a federal study has warned of protection problems along the northern border.
State DMV Commissioner David Swarts, in a counterattack in his Ellicott Square office, said additional identity requirements will also be put in place. He said applicants must now pass a six-point identify application that requires a valid passport and license photos will be run against a data base of 15 million photos in a state system.
Still, Spitzer’s recent rhetoric is not winning over skeptics.
“I’ve seen some nutsy things in government, but this is probably the nutsiest,” Assemblyman Thomas Kirwan, a Republican, said in Albany Friday when GOP lawmakers gave Spitzer until Nov. 1 to reverse his plans or face a lawsuit.
So, what’s next ? Special auto insurance for them ? Maybe the legal citizens should subsidize their auto insurance ? Then their health insurance ? Subjugation of one group to gain the votes from another ? We need a new name for this. Any ideas ?
Hochul has to support her boss. Spitzer. Her appontment depends on it. We don’t want Spitzer to get mad at Hochul. She really could care less about this nonsense. Time will tell when the residents of Erie County will wake up and vote their conscience not their Party.
The voters of Erie County have NEVER had a clearer choice than this year. Party politics, career politicians, excessive patronage & higher taxes VS. us.
Hochul is a perfect example of the puppet subordinate appointee; she has no vote to legislate, but she has influence. If she doesn’t care if the boat goes down in the name of party power, then she earns the title ‘hatriot’. A puky partisan political puppet that care more about power than the Nation. Typical of the Democrats that place their power struggle over national security and the economy. As long as they are players in the never ending ‘better political job’ seeking pony show. I wish the private sector was doing better, then these loosers could get a real job in the private sector; but, of course, the private sector has been sold out by the public officials. Mexico, China, India, and now the latest slave labor port of Africa.
There are better ways to catch illegals; that don’t grow the size of governmental administration; but, of course, this would not find jobs for these looser public sector vampires.
Take Action said: ‘We don’t want Spitzer to get mad at Hochul. She really could care less about this nonsense’
This is NOT ‘nonsense’; un American yes, but not nonsense.
Mad? Go to wgy.com. Under “on air” click on Al Roney. On the right hand side he has info on this–and a link to a forum that a listener started. They are talking about a rally in Albany on 10/22. If you are interested, join the discussion. If you can’t make it, spread the word.
This fool needs to be recalled. Start the recall before he passes this so he knows if he continues with it he loses his job. California recalled its governor, it works.
My understanding is that NY doesn’t have a recall. He would have to be impeached and the process for that makes it unlikely.
This issue is political poppycock. Spitzer and friends are selecting which issue to occupy the political arena and our heads. Instead of the taxpayers selecting the issues that SHOULD be talked about/debated, the ‘powers that be’ are selecting issues which smoke out the correct issues.
Hochul was “allowed” to speak out against the Spitzer ‘herring’. Whatever Hochul needs to do to win the election will be OK with Spitzer. In the end he will get his way, like every nazi type power grubbing politician. After the election.
The Dem County Committee isn’t forgetting who butters its bread. Spitzer donated $100,000 to the committee when he ran, or should I say bought, his endorsement for A.G.
This whole issue is not legal anyway. Spitzer is following suit from the other states that are using the issue to control the election.
We SHOULD be talking about why all this net loss of jobs due to liberal bloated government; running corporations out of the Country. Instead, the Dems are looking for ways to grow the gov’t even more; with more ‘programs’ that need administering. Believe me, Spitzer and friends already have people in mind to administer the driver’s licence spike in work. And who does this work ? THE COUNTY CLERK ! Hochul and friends.
The war on the taxpayer continues.
Vote wisely
Well, Kathy “The Puppet” Hochul will be out of a job after the election. The voters of Erie County are so pissed off that they will vote against “The Puppet.” Aparently, “The Puppet” doesn’t give a damn about our security. Someone should ask her if she wants illegeals living in her neighborhood. GO GET THEM…..”PUPPET!!!”
It believe that this “issue” was chosen by Spitzer to trump the “healthcare isse” which they MUST back if they back Hillary Clinton. It was supposed to be a safer issue to lead the voters with; but, it backfired on Spitzer. Now Hochul will be collateral damage. This one will kill her victory for sure. 71% of the area voters are against the drivers’ licenses ! LOL
I feel very sorry for all of you…There are people in this country who were born somewhere else all over…You think that people holding high positions in this country are Americans no they are not..Since the begining this country had been build on immigrants..Real indians lived here and they are real Americans all of You were made from immigrants that came here and kicked indians out…What does it matter for you if immigrants get licence or not..You think they are not driving anyway with or without licence..Poeple come here for a better life, and you dont understand that cuz You are so stuck up, its not anybody’s fault that they were born in a poorer country.. When they come here it takes time to get their social and green card, but untill then they have to work and support themselves..So why does it matter if they get their licence so they can live like normal people they are no worst then Americans in any way.. Only stuck up and empty people can think that immigrants are worst they them… Immigrants help to keep this country and they are working to support this country..Does not matter what country you were born in we are all people…So open Your eyes and stop this nonsense complains…
100 years ago immigrants would have to go through Ellis Island before stepping foot in the USA. They would be screened for every kind of disease and have to fill out paperwork for green cards and citizenship. They even had to reveal criminal history and if they got caught lying they would go straight to jail. The only time in American history that immigrants became citizens fresh off the boats is during the Civil War when the Irish stepped off one boat and onto another. Only this time they were in a uniform of the Union soldiers. Today they just walk in, get welfare, and take jobs off the books. They steal SSN #’s and identities. I agree that our country should be open to everyone who wants to come here but only if they come here legally.
Though I realize everyone has freedom of speech and, therefore, the right to create whatever smear campaign they want by spreading ugly lies, I must say that this entire web page made me disappointed in people and reasonably disgusted. First and foremost, the title, “Kathy Hochul agrees to allow Illegal Immigrants to get drivers licence in Erie County!” is in desperate need of at least a small amount of intelligence, insight, and honesty. Though not to stray from the political issues at hand, I would like to point out that “licence” is spelled incorrectly. In my opinion, if you are going to spread shameful lies, you should at least spell them accurately; otherwise, people may begin to doubt propaganda coming from someone who does not even know how to use a dictionary. Moving away from the lack of consideration for the English language on this webpage, I would like to discuss the disregard for truth. It is true that Kathy Hochul and Elliot Spitzer are friends, however, Kathy Hochul is most definitely against giving drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. I know, without a doubt, that Kathy Hochul does not side with Spitzer on this particular issue. Moreover, I do not see how you can call someone who is fighting for her ideas on what is right, against her boss and through disgraceful smear statements like these, a puppet. Especially while you are the one being manipulated and lead by lies fabricated merely to make people believe that Kathy Hochul isn’t the honest person that she really is.
It’s unfortunate that you can’t see past the current spin by Kathy Hochul. The truth is that Kathy supported Spitzer in his initiative to give illegals drivers licenses and only switched after she was challenged openly in this campaign. Hochul has a long track record of supporting Spitzer including holding a very large fundraiser at her home that ultimately gained her the County Clerk appointment to begin with. If you really think she differs on this issue from Spitzer then you should just keep your head in the sand. It suits you better. By the way if you want credibility here then use your real name.
Well, I hope my name makes everyone happy, though I can not say that I see why my name should matter. If you want some real reasons not to listen to what I have to say, here they are: I am under the voting age, I have no real say in the government yet, and I know Hochul personally. So, you may say that I am too young and naive to know what I’m talking about, or that my utter respect for Hochul as a person blinds me from seeing who she is as a politician. But I ask you this, are the noble attributes that someone has as a person different from the qualities that are valued in politicians? Knowing Hochul as a kind, dignified, benevolent, and intelligent person, should I not assume her to be an outstanding politician? I by no means deny that Hochul has a track record of supporting Spitzer, nor do I contradict with the knowledge that she became County Clerk because of him. Also, it is true that she held a fundraiser for Spitzer at her home. I deny none of these facts; the only point I wish to get across is that Hochul is an honest person and does not, in fact, support giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. I know this, Hochul’s family knows this, much of Erie County knows this, and you too, if you remove your head from the sand long enough to see the integrity in Hochul, would know this. I am sincerely sorry if you can not see the truth in what I have said and sorrier if you still believe that Hochul would lie to all of Erie County, including her friends and family. I hope you bear in mind and respect my point. If not, disregard anything I have said and consider it nothing more than a childish opinion without truly knowing who I am, just as you judge Hochul based on who she is friends with, without knowing who she really is.
the honest truth is that we as a nation would not be having this problem as a nation if the borders were not so tight that innocent people looking for a better life would have to come into the country illegally. I find it offensive to be using terrorists as a reason to not let people come into the country. Why would people twist peoples fear of a handful of sick people in the middle east to not let in other people. Most of the illegal immigrants are probably not from the middle east anyway. People coming in from mexico and hispanic countries are the ones that are mostly coming into the county, and all they want is a better life for themselves and there families. What do every other nation have to do with the terrorists. And the thing about economic struggles and how illegal aliens are ruining the economy is bull. It is the immigrants who do a lot of the work that we as a snobbish country wouldnt dare to do. They dont only do that but they play an important part in the mixed culture of the united states. We should give everyone a chance at a better life. Almost all of the illegal immigrants that come into the country are probably just trying to make a living for there family, and they are no different from us and i find that it is very dissapointing that our country that was based on immigrants would turn away what we were only a couple of centuries ago. Immigrants created this country and all people looking for a chance at life should have it accessible to them. no one should have to drive around without a liscence because they are not welcome in the land of immigrants because they are immigrants. I must say that if they had liscences they could get insurance and could be able to do something if they cause or are in an accident. I am also a child but take into consideration that my opinions do matter because they will make the next generation of this country and i hope that things will be different in a couple of years.