Driver’s license plan dropped

Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced Wednesday he was scrapping his plan to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, saying that overwhelming public opposition had destroyed the proposal’s chances of passing.

“It does not take a stethoscope to hear the pulse of New Yorkers on this topic,” Spitzer said during a news conference in Washington, adding that “the legislative process and any number of mounting obstacles would have prevented us from moving forward.”

Spitzer, a Democrat, proposed the initiative in September in an effort to improve safety in New York, home to more than 1 million undocumented immigrants, many of whom are driving without licenses. But a fierce backlash damaged the governor’s first-year approval ratings and distracted from Spitzer’s larger political agenda.

About 70% of New Yorkers opposed the driver’s license plan, according to a recent poll. The issue even seeped into the presidential campaign when New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Democratic rivals accused her of hedging her position on Spitzer’s proposal during a debate in Philadelphia last month.

Spitzer argued that his licensing idea would have made it easier for law enforcement to keep the roads safe. But critics said it would make it easier for terrorists to blend into the city and would encourage more illegal immigrants to come to New York state.

On Wednesday, Spitzer said opponents equated undocumented dishwashers to Osama bin Laden, and newspapers made the driver’s license proposal sound like “a passport to terror and a license to kill.”

“In New York, forces quickly mobilized to prey on the public’s worst fears by turning what we believe is a practical security measure into a referendum on immigration,” he said.

The license plan has been contested regularly on TV shows such as CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” which attracts roughly 800,000 viewers. GOP New York state Sen. John J. Flanagan, who has appeared on Dobbs’ program, said Spitzer had proposed the plan without reasonable discussion or debate. He said offering licenses to illegal residents takes away from people who have gone through the steps to become naturalized citizens.

“It’s like saying: ‘Everything you did doesn’t matter. Now we’re giving privileges to people who don’t want to do the same thing,’ ” Flanagan said.

The plan’s failure is the latest setback in Spitzer’s tumultuous first year as governor, which has been tainted by political scandal. In July, New York Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo issued a report that found two of Spitzer’s aides had wrongly asked police to gather information on travels by Republican state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno. One aide was suspended indefinitely and the other was reassigned.

Spitzer said that he still supports allowing undocumented workers to drive legally but that the country’s immigration problems are too difficult for New York to address on its own. On Wednesday, he denounced the federal government for failing to enact a strong immigration policy and for losing control of its borders.

Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) said Spitzer’s idea was right, but the timing was wrong.

“There’s no question that we lack the leadership on the national level to change the tone,” Rangel said.

“And that is the reason why leaders all over the country, mayors and governors, are trying so desperately hard to deal locally with a problem that is basically a national problem.”

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) congratulated Spitzer for his efforts, saying: “Unfortunately, the governor tried to deal with a real problem in a rational way in a period of hysteria.

“The political system in New York simply will not bear it. Another mark of leadership is knowing when to go on to other issues.”

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erika.hayasaki@latimes.com