Embattled Gov. Spitzer yesterday beat a double-barreled retreat, throwing in the towel on his unpopular plan to give licenses to illegal aliens and unexpectedly nixing an Internet sales-tax scheme that would have socked shoppers during the holidays.
Spitzer’s first rollback came at a Washington, D.C., press conference where he was joined by New York Democratic lawmakers as he announced he was withdrawing his widely despised license proposal.
“It does not take a stethoscope to hear the pulse of New Yorkers on this topic,” Spitzer said.
“I am here today to respond to the vast majority of New Yorkers of good will who have heard my best case and yet still disagree with my proposal.”
Spitzer’s concession came after he met with New York lawmakers over breakfast – a gathering he had originally planned as an attempt to breathe new life into his plan.
Instead, with public disapproval at an overwhelming level and threats to block the program at virtually every level of government, Spitzer called it quits.
The governor cited the following reasons:
* “I have concluded that New York state cannot successfully address this problem on its own.”
* “Pushing forward unilaterally in the face of such strong opposition would be counterproductive.”
* “While there are times when states should be laboratories, immigration is not one of them.”
* “Even if I could convince the public of the utility of our cause, the legislative process and any number of mounting obstacles would have prevented us from moving forward.
“The result would have been the defeat of this proposal and, even worse, a roadblock to solutions on so many important issues.”
But just because illegal immigrants in New York no longer stand a chance of getting state driver’s licenses anytime soon, that doesn’t mean that enemies of Spitzer’s plan are finished fighting it.
New York Republican Reps. Peter King and Vito Fossella have pushed forward bills to combat Spitzer’s proposal at the federal level.
Fossella introduced a bill Tuesday would force state governments to choose between instituting a plan like Spitzer’s and getting millions of transportation dollars, by linking the identification policies to federal-funding rules.
King’s bill, introduced hours after Spitzer’s proposal flatlined, bars states from issuing state identification to anyone in the country illegally.
Spitzer’s plan also caused problems for Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), who dodged, weaved and ultimately gave it tepid support during a Democratic presidential debate late last month.
Spitzer complained yesterday that the caustic state of political discourse was partly to blame for the death of his plan.
“Political opponents equated minimum-wage, undocumented dishwashers with Osama bin Laden,” Spitzer said. “Based on the New Yorkers I speak to each and every day, I feel confident in saying that this rhetoric is wildly out of step with mainstream values.”
Later in the day, the Governor’s Office announced it was grounding another plan – this one for new Internet taxation.
Spitzer’s Christmas sales-tax plan, which was first disclosed by The Sun, would have imposed the state and city’s 8.375 percent sales tax on major Internet vendors like Amazon.com, which don’t collect sales taxes now because they’re not physically located in the state.
Spitzer’s tax department said it planned to impose sales taxes on a large number of Internet vendors who have “affiliate” relationships with other Internet vendors located in New York.
Under the arrangement, such “affiliates” are paid a commission if purchasers use their Web sites to link to such larger vendors at Amazon.com.
However, Spitzer, who has vowed not to impose levies on the state’s already heavily taxed residents, had a change of mind.
“Gov. Spitzer believes that now is not the right time to be increasing sales taxes on New Yorkers,” said Budget Director Paul Francis.
Meanwhile, the governor also abandoned his attempt to settle a lawsuit brought by criminals who complained they were unfairly being denied parole, according to a spokesman.
The reported settlement would have made it easier for violent felons to get out of jail.
The spokesman, Paul Larrabee, called the settlement reports “premature,” adding, “It’s not unusual for there to be attempts to settle cases outside of court.”
Margaret Ryman-Rainone, whose police officer father was shot dead in Brooklyn in 1980, said, “I’m glad [Spitzer] heard the voice of the people.”
Additional reporting by John Mazor