A new mailer by the New York Republican State Committee arriving in mailboxes of the 7th Senate District would have you believe that Sen. Craig Johnson supports Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plan to issue drivers’ licenses to undocumented immigrants. Johnson, however, already voted on a bill this year that goes against that plan — requiring social-security numbers for license applicants or alternative documents — thus breaking ranks with a number of fellow Democrats.
The mailer quotes Johnson (D-Port Washington) from a Politicker blog entry by Azi Paybarah. Last week Paybarah called Johnson to see if he liked the governor’s revised three-tier system of licensing. Johnson reportedly said he was studying the new plan.
According to the Politicker item, it seems as though Paybarah asked if the change would be “more amenable to lawmakers like Johnson.”
Johnson had responded, “Right now I’m focused on working my district, so I really don’t have much of a thought on that.” (Possible translation: he knows the issue’s a third rail that he does not want to step on, but is not in the business of denouncing the governor, who’s otherwise been his ally.)
The mailer focuses ....
Melissa Mansfield
...on the statement and asks: "Craig, how much thought does it take to know that illegal aliens should not be allowed to buy guns?"
It also has a mock-up of a New York license, with Johnson’s photo. It says, "Senator Craig Johnson didn’t think about illegal aliens breaking the law, driving, buying guns, voting."
"It’s the grossest of gross distortions," said Rich Azzopardi, Johnson’s spokesman. "They took Senator Johnson’s comments, which were not political, and they twisted them until they were political." He added, "They’ve stretched the boundaries of credibility with this one."