Eliot Spitzer's ID Card proposal is in free fall. His nominal allies are putting some daylight [1] between themselves and the governor [2]; admonishing editorials and stories published today are here [3], here [4], here [5] and here [6]; Joe Bruno, God help us, was on Lou Dobbs last night [7]; and to put whipped cream and a cherry on top of the debacle, Darren Dopp is now refusing to testify [8] in the earlier Spitzer/Bruno spat.
In short, Eliot is pretty much looking at a perfect political storm, one of his own creation, one might add. As we noted yesterday [9], the discussion of this proposal - which coincidentally is sound policy that would benefit the state - is officially off the rails.
So what to do? The governor could save himself, the remainder of his agenda, the prospects of Democrats in the election a few days away - and more importantly, in the election now a year away - and perhaps even his ID card policy, but to do that, he needs to give a speech like this one.
My fellow New Yorkers,
I come to you today with a message I would prefer not to have to give you, but see little choice in delivering: I have made a mistake. You may have heard of it. It concerns my policy to give all residents of this state a state drivers license regardless of immigration status.
Now, don't get me wrong: the mistake is not in the policy itself. That policy is sound. You don't get people like Richard Clarke and Bill Bratton to endorse a given policy if it has negative consequences for the people's security.
Rather, my mistake was this: I did not first reach out to you, my fellow citizens, to get your support before announcing this policy. However, in a democracy, the people need to be heard, no matter how much their government is convinced of its rightness on a given subject. You were not heard before my administration announced its decision, and in consequence, you are angry. Let me be the first to say that you have every right to be angry.
In consequence, my administration has created a citizen commission to further study the question of road safety and the criteria for issuing state ID cards. This commission will travel the state and hear your concerns before any new policy is adopted.
But let me say a few words about the firestorm that has engulfed my administration. You elected me a bit less than a year ago to fix Albany. I'm pleased to report that we have made great strides in fulfilling this mandate. Every step along the way, however, I have encountered, we have encountered, the entrenched opposition of the Albany status quo, at its most recalcritant in Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno.
My good friend Joe and his caucus are now adopting an unfamiliar pose to anyone knowledgeable about their record, as your defenders from a detached, arbitrary governor. The words rich, spoiled brat have even been used. I'm here to tell you that this is, indeed, nothing but a pose: what they're defending is not you. They're defending themselves, their earmarks, their salaries, all the many ways in which they've done very well for themselves out of running your state government.
Their record is this: a withering upstate economy, a campaign finance system that is the object of scorn and derision everywhere, a system of crony capitalism that rewards political ties to the republican party over actual business success, a legislature that is completely and entirely unresponsive to you, the citizens.
That's what they're defending as they mount the barricades over my ID card proposal. That proposal is merely the occasion of their outrage; the cause is their fight to preserve their privileges and power. My mistake was that I played into this, and that I didn't first speak to and solicit the support of the people of New York.
New Yorkers, all of us, have a choice to make. We can either go forward together, reforming this state and unleashing its true potential with open, honest, transparent and active Progressive government. That's what you voted for last November. That's what you're not getting from Joe Bruno, what you'll never get from Joe Bruno. This is the man that hired the detritus of Watergate to advise him. This is the man who is currently under FBI investigation. This is the man who uses your tax dollars to fly to fundraising events - your money is paying for the funding he needs to continue to be able to not do your business.
My administration has made mistakes. I have made mistakes, chief among them that I didn't listen to you often enough. That's going to change. You, the people of New York, will always have an open ear in my administration and in my office. You deserve nothing less. And I promise you this: I will deliver for you.
Come now, let us go forward together.
Advice is a dangerous gift. But Eliot needs to get out there and listen to the people; and the people, it would appear, are presently none too pleased with him.
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