Bratton Endorses Spitzer Driver’s License Plan

October 22, 2007, 12:43 pm

By Sewell Chan



William J. Bratton

Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who has been trying to build support for his unpopular plan to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, announced today that William J. Bratton, the former New York City police commissioner who is now chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, had endorsed it.

On Friday, the governor announced that Richard A. Clarke, who was White House counterterrorism czar in the Clinton and Bush administrations, had endorsed the plan. The combination of Chief Bratton and Mr. Clarke is intended to bolster the governor’s argument that his plan will improve security, not harm it.

Chief Bratton was New York City’s police commissioner from 1994 to 1996, during the first term of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, but the two men famously feuded, with Mr. Giuliani resentful that Mr. Bratton — a pioneer of the city’s Compstat program — was getting much of the credit for the city’s reduction in crime. In March, Mr. Giuliani began trying to mend fences with Chief Bratton and met privately; afterward, Mr. Bratton said he “enjoyedâ€