Lessons of Spitzer’s license reversal

Almost all of the dozen Democrats from the New York City metropolitan area standing behind Spitzer at the Capitol have utterly safe seats; several will face only token opposition or none at all.

But there are a couple of upstate New York freshmen Democrats, who will face competitive races next year and who opposed the Spitzer plan.

Freshman Democrat Rep. Michael Arcuri, who represents Oneida County and other parts of upstate New York, said there was “very, very strong opposition in my district” to the Spitzer license idea. “The opposition was so strong that it wasn’t the kind of thing I could ignore.”

Arcuri said as former prosecutor, he himself had “a lot of questions that weren’t answered” in the governor’s idea such as, “what does this mean in terms of people who go apply to buy a gun? What does it mean for traveling around the country?”

The New York Democrat also said the Republicans were “quick to turn this into a political football — filled with gotchas at every turn.”

Arcuri said, “People have real apprehension about even making a proposal because there is this concern that all of a sudden you’re going to be characterized as someone who is an advocate of amnesty.”

Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, a first-term Democrat whose district includes the Albany suburbs and Saratoga Springs, also opposed Spitzer’s proposal.

Video   Illegal immigration fights Nov. 14: Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., talks about Gov. Spitzer’s decision to ditch his plan to give illegal immigrants driver's licenses and the San Francisco decision to give ID cards to all residents whether or not they're legal. Hardball

But their downstate colleague, Rep. Nydia Velasquez, who represents a majority Latino district in the Bronx, said the Republican effort to use illegal immigration as an issue “is not producing the results that they wanted. Look at Virginia” — where in last week’s legislation elections Democrats won control of the state senate.

Yet Democrats also seem uneasy that maybe illegal immigration might work to their disadvantage in some races.

The country is 'very, very nervous'
“Right now, if you take the temperature of the country, (people) are very, very nervous. Immigration is something they have become vocal about — the undercurrent is the economy, the undercurrent is the war in Iraq, you can feel the tension, its there and it’s very real” said New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, who represents a suburban district with large number of illegal immigrants.

She said she favors some form of legalization for illegal immigrants “down the road. And it’s not an easy path.”

Another indicator of Democratic concern about the immigration issue: last week, 36 House Democrats — including several freshmen and New Yorker Gillibrand — voted for a Republican motion that would prevent the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from suing organizations which require their employees to speak English on the job.

That motion passed 218 to 186, with most Democrats voting against it.

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