Other than the federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are there three words that produce more fear and loathing in red blooded Americans than Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)?
Three days ago I ventured into the belly of the beast: Traffic Violations Division of the DMV on Fordham Road in the Bronx. I had all my paper documentation. When I presented my traffic ticket and uncashed check I was told that I had to see a judge. I asked why my check had not been cashed in Alnaby? I was told that I had to appear in person for this particular violation. I stated that I had read the ticket carefully several times and there was no such indication. I asked how I could have known that. I was told that I could not have known without doing research in a DMV manual.
Somewhere the sun is shining. Somewhere children shout. But not at the DMV. I settled up and left ASAP.
What's to be learned from this month long annoyance? Small town politicians are petty. Yes, but there is more.
May 16, 2006 I wrote "Immigration: the solution" and posted it on this blog FEBRUARY 20, 2008. Here is a quote:
President Bush proposes an ID card but only for aliens, not for U.S. citizens. That won’t work. If a person states that he/she is a U.S. citizen, how will the employer know that the person is not lying? Will the employer request documentation? That will be fun. Americans have been conditioned to irrationally resist a national ID card or database with unexplained elliptical emotional metaphors such as 1984, black helicopters, Nazis, Communists, Waco. You name it. We currently rely on state drivers licenses. Great, national security based on the competence of the motor vehicle department. Times 50.
Americans have come to depend on the DMV to identify themselves. That was a scary thought for me years ago but after my recent experience it emphasizes the extent to which we have mismanaged a basic function. We need to know who and where we are. We cannot have the people like DMV Commissioner David Swarts in positions of authority or responsibility. Swarts and those in the Comptroller's office responsible for dealing with government waste, fraud and abuse who receive but do not respond to e-mai messages sent to investigations@osc.state.ny.us are unacceptable for public service.
Why do Swarts and the Comptroller's surrogates not respond? You would think that they would want to explain and defend themselves, to protect their good names, to do their duty, to serve the people of the State of New York. Do they think that I and my situation are unworthy of them, too powerless to matter? Are they dense? Are they frightened?
David Swarts was appointed by former governor Elliot Spitzer.
In September 2007, Swarts and Gov. Spitzer developed a plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. The plan was the subject of much debate on the state and national level, and was ultimately scrapped.
Maybe that's all we need to know. Swarts obviously has no sense or skill. When he fades back to Erie county he will reclaim the anonymity he so richly deserves.
