McCain, Palin differ on Real ID

Governor shows soft opposition to standardized security requirements

By Alan Suderman | JUNEAU EMPIRE

It's been widely noted that Republican presidential nominee John McCain and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, disagree about drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

He's against it. She, like many in the Republican Party, is for it.

But there's another issue, which hasn't been as widely discussed but is important to many, that reverses those roles.

McCain and other Republican leaders support the Real ID Act. Palin has said she has "great concerns" about the "ill-conceived policy."

The Real ID Act of 2005 calls for standardized security requirements of state drivers licenses and a national database to allow states to share information.

Supporters say the act will help prevent terrorism. Opponents say it's a de facto national ID card that will strip away personal privacy.

In many states, including Alaska, opposition to the Real ID Act has been fierce, prompting politicians of varying stripes to denounce the federal government's alleged abrogation of civil liberties.

Montana's Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer said his state was sending a message of "no, nope, no way, hell no" to the federal government when he signed an anti-Real ID Act bill in 2006.

Republican Govs. C.L. "Butch" Otter of Idaho, and Mark Sanford of South Carolina have also been vocal critics of the Real ID Act, calling it an unfunded mandate and a threat to their citizens' privacy.

But where some state leaders have chosen to roar about their opposition to the Real ID Act, Palin's opposition has been more of a whimper.

When a bill forbidding the state from spending any money "solely for the purpose of implementing" the Real ID Act passed both chambers of the Alaska Legislature by nearly unanimous votes earlier this year, Palin allowed it to pass into law without signing it.

In a May statement explaining why, she said opposing the Real ID Act presents a "quandary for Alaskans who are so protective of state rights and liberties and yet, by necessity, must have federally accepted identification in order to travel by airplane." Citizens of states that don't comply with the Real ID Act face a prospect of one day not being able to board a plane or enter a federal building without a passport or some other federal ID card.

Critics of the governor have said that by not signing the law she sidestepped taking a stand on a controversial issue. Palin herself has been critical of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama for voting "present" several times as a state legislator in Illinois.

The sponsor of the Alaska anti-Real ID bill, Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, said there is a broad opposition to the Real ID Act in Alaska that transcends traditional party lines.

"We have the best privacy rights provision than any (state) constitution in the United States, and Alaska should have been a leader in this front," Wielechowski said, "I was disappointed that the governor didn't come out and take a strong stand against Real ID."

He added that he and members of the general public pleaded with the governor to sign his anti-Real ID Act bill after it passed the state Legislature in April.

Wielechowski, who has been a vocal critic of how Palin has handled a legislative investigation into her firing of a former public safety commissioner, suggested that Palin might have been overly concerned about her national reputation.

"I thought there were probably national figures who would not have been very happy if she'd signed that bill," Wielechowski said, citing President George Bush's support for the Real ID Act.

But Palin supporters who are also strong opponents of the Real ID Act said they didn't want to speculate about the governor's motives for not signing Wielechowski's bill.

"I couldn't figure that out," said Schaeffer Cox, a Republican from Fairbanks.

"I wish I knew the answer, quite frankly," said Rep. John Coghill, R-North Pole. "She's kind of a populist gal."

Coghill added that Palin's "cool" reception of Wielechowski's bill was likely borne out "more substantive than political" reasons, pointing out that officials from the state Department of Motor Vehicles expressed concerns with earlier versions of the bill.

"I don't know how well she understood the issue, quite frankly, so I'll cut her some slack," Coghill added.

Since being picked as McCain's running mate in August, Palin has said she is going to try and change McCain's mind on drilling in ANWR. Whether he's going to try and change her mind on the Real ID Act is unclear.

"As reformers, sometimes they may just have to simply agree to disagree," McCain-Palin campaign spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said in an e-mail.

But it is clear that opponents of the Real ID Act will be watching whether Palin changes her mind.

"If Sarah Palin loses who she is, then I won't support her," Cox said.

"If she comes out as a strong supporter of the Real ID (Act), I want to know why and it might be worthy of challenge," Coghill said. "Just like drilling in ANWR, I think John McCain's dead wrong on that one."
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