POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: Slaughter mum on driver’s licenses change

BY JILL TERRERI

The fight over issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants isn’t one Rep. Louise Slaughter in which seems ready to get involved.

The Democrat said last week that she’ll leave the issue — being pressed by fellow Democrat Gov. Eliot Spitzer — up to the state.

“I don’t have any thoughts about that,” Slaughter said. “It’s a state issue.”

She said her district offices in Niagara Falls and Buffalo received a few calls about the issue and her Rochester office received none, leading her to conclude it wasn’t creating a stir at home.

One of Slaughter’s hallmark crusades in Congress has been to fight a proposal to require passports at the U.S.-Canada border, saying we need a safe border but one that allows commerce and people to travel with relative freedom.

During a conference call with reporters last week, she said she wasn't convinced driver’s licenses are an acceptable alternative to passports for crossing the border.

“I think there’s still more questions than answers,” she said.

In late June, Slaughter was talking about the possibility of using enhanced driver’s licenses at the border.

Slaughter’s office heralded a meeting between herself, Spitzer and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to discuss enhanced driver’s licenses “that could serve as an alternative to a passport,” according to the release.

“As I’ve said all along, an enhanced driver’s license is a better option for the people of Western New York, and for many cross-border travelers nationally, than a passport,” Slaughter is quoted as stating in the June 25 release.

Whether the Spitzer plan will destroy the option of allowing enhanced driver’s licenses at the border isn’t clear.

The issue of allowing illegal immigrants to obtain drivers licenses has been controversial from the start, when Spitzer announced his plan Sept. 21.

Spitzer contends the initiative — which he is implementing without Legislature approval — will lead to safer streets, because unlicensed drivers get into more fatal crashes than licensed ones, lower insurance rates and a “safer homeland” because more people will be documented, which will assist law enforcement in catching people who are a security threat.

The Niagara County Legislature unanimously opposed Spitzer’s move last week, and some state Democrats, as well as many state Republicans, are either opposed or have many questions.

Niagara County Clerk Wayne Jagow, a Republican, has registered his opposition to the plan, saying his staff isn’t ready for the change.

“I don’t feel comfortable about this at all,” he said.

Spitzer condemned a concerted effort by county clerks across the state to protest the move.

“Today, 30 county clerks voted for a policy that makes our State less secure and our roads less safe,” the governor said in a statement Thursday. “The simple fact is, increasing access to driver’s licenses, tied to increased anti-fraud security measures, is good for public safety and good for homeland security.”

•••

Niagara County Democratic Committee Chairman Daniel Rivera said despite the Falls’ Democratic Committee’s selection of Lewis “Babe” Rotella as their candidate for mayor, there’s no hard feelings between him and the primary winner, Paul Dyster.

In fact, many of the Democrats’ endorsed candidates didn’t win, including Mario Tonellato in the Legislature’s Third District and Jerry Genova in the First District.

Rivera claims he hasn’t “lost any capital” in the city because the city committee picked candidates that didn’t win over the voting public.

Asked whether he would allow the city committee to keep picking which candidates to endorse, Rivera said local control is important.

“I never want to seem like a dictator,” he said. “We’re going to take a long, hard look at what’s happening.”

•••

Maybe lawmakers in Niagara County can learn something from the city of San Jose, Calif.

As noted last week on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, city leaders in San Jose are considering cutting themselves short.

Apparently the lawmakers’ taste for honoring everything from deceased campaign activists to deceased children of city workers to special days like Law Enforcement Support Personnel Day leads to marathon meetings that some think should be shortened.

Though the amount of presentations by Niagara County lawmakers has decreased considerably since the primary, they’re bound to start up again before the general election.

Contact reporter Jill Terreri

at 282-2311, ext. 2250.

Text Only | Photo Reprints