Eliot Spitzer isn’t conceding anything when it comes to his driver’s license plan. Or, at least, he’s not conceding that he’s conceding anything.
Here’s a transcript from his appearance yesterday on CNN’s American Morning where he discussed his new plan.
Spitzer: Well, in a way, neither. What we are trying to do, first of all, is address a problem that the federal government has created, which is that there are one million people here in New York state alone who are not here with proper documentation, but they’re here.
We want security. We want our roads to be safe, which is the initial impetus behind letting them get a license so we know who they are, where they are. They can get insurance, everybody is safer.
Security experts agree with that premise. Seven other states do it. That is the initial objective.
What we’ve tried to do is do it in a way that does not create a structure that makes them feel targeted, creates security. Now, what we did over the weekend was reach an agreement with the director of Homeland Security on a structure that he said would make the New York license among the most secure in the nation.
That is what we are trying to do, provide security, documentation, know who is here. And what we have accomplished, I believe, is a compromise that does all of those things.
