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Tompkins County Legislature Chairman Tim Joseph weighed in to support of Governor Eliot Spitzer's New Driver's License Policy.  The policy, which is hotly debated all over New York State, is being challenged in court by Rensselaer County Clerk Frank J. Merola on the grounds that granting licenses to illegal aliens violates New York and federal law.  New York Assembly Republican leader James Tedisco also filed a lawsuit yesterday in the State Supreme Court in Albany County challenging the policy.

"Governor Eliot Spitzer's new license policy represents a major victory for the security, safety and economy for all New Yorkers and will serve as a national blueprint for meeting federal licensing requirements and state's responsibilities to deal with their undocumented populations," Joseph said.  "The Governor was dealt the impossible task of balancing the congressionally mandated Real ID and Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) requirements with trying to deal with the nearly one million undocumented populations living in New York State. Considering this landscape, which no other Governor has been able to reconcile, Governor Spitzer moved forward with a plan that gives our state the most secure license system in the country, preserves the upstate economy and works to make undocumented immigrants identifiable and accountable to law enforcement agencies."

Tedisco says that 72% of New Yorkers agree that the policy is unlawful, and claims that Spitzer made a unilateral decision to issue the driver's licenses in secret.

On the local front, Joseph's statement came on the heels of a press conference last week in which State Legislator Barbara Lifton, surrounded by a cadre of supporters, came out in support of the policy.  But Mike Sigler, who represents Lansing on the County Legislator says that the policy in inexplicable.  "It cheapens citizenship," Sigler says, adding that just because a driver is granted a license doesn't mean he will purchase insurance.  "The problem is these aren't just immigrants -- they're illegal immigrants," he says.  "If you want to revise the immigration laws of the United States, then let's do that.  But you don't do it in a back door way."

But Joseph says that the issues are seperate.  "It is unfortunate that some have attempted to confuse a state driver licensing issue with federal immigration policy," he states.  "There have been far too many false claims about what this proposal will do. I applaud the Governor's leadership and believe that his plan is a "win" for the people of Tompkins County and the state."

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