Rep. Michael Arcuri isn’t shy when it comes to articulating his position on issues, so it’s awfully interesting to see him dodging the important question of whether New York should give state-issued drivers’ licenses to illegal aliens. One of Arcuri’s fellow Democrats, Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, has already come out in opposition. Here’s the scoop from the Majority Accountability Project:
An article this week in the New York Observer gauged political support for Spitzer’s proposal, noting the controversial governor has placed fellow Democrats in the uncomfortable position of having to take a public position on a highly volatile – and unpopular – issue.
“Some Democrats in New York’s Congressional delegation have spoken up,” the Observer’s Azi Paybarah reported. “Carolyn Maloney and Joe Crowley, from strongly Democratic districts, in favor; Kirsten Gillibrand, from a Republican-leaning area upstate, opposed – others have been paralyzed by the perceived potential for backlash.”
Among those suffering paralysis are Hall and Arcuri.
“Newly elected representative John Hall said that he’s for comprehensive immigration reform, but that he’s still studying the governor’s proposal,” the Observer said. “A message left for another freshman Democrat, Michael Arcuri of Utica, was not returned by press time.”
Not surprisingly, Hall’s and Arcuri’s having no opinion on Spitzer’s contentious proposal continues a pattern of avoiding public positions on hot button issues. Both Congressmen tiptoed around the immigration issue during their 2006 campaigns, and neither issued any substantive policy statements.
The report goes on to examine Arcuri’s position on illegal aliens during his stint as Oneida County district attorney and during his campaign last year.
October 12, 2007 at 10:00 pm
[...] 12th, 2007 The New York Observer isn’t giving up in its quest to get Rep. Michael Arcuri on the record about Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plan to give drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants. Fellow [...]