PHOENIX — A group of Republican lawmakers and the head of the state's ACLU vowed Wednesday to kill a plan by Gov. Janet Napolitano to create a "technologically enhanced'' state driver's license.
Sen. Karen Johnson, R-Mesa, the leading foe, said the deal Napolitano inked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is a step toward totalitarianism.
"This isn't Nazi Germany,'' the senator said. "And I oppose requiring people to carry tracking devices in their pockets,'' she continued, referring to the fact these licenses will have radio frequency identification computer chips.
But Napolitano argued that the Mesa Republican lawmaker is on the political fringe.
"With all respects, you've got to look at who's making the press conference,'' the governor said of Sen. Karen Johnson. Napolitano said Johnson has "an ideological bent that . . . doesn't represent the majority of Arizonans.''
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Napolitano also said those who fear the new license — and the databanks to which it might be linked — do not have to obtain one.
But Johnson said those who oppose the plan are not "paranoid.''
"I think they just value very much their privacy,'' the senator said. "And although it is voluntary at the moment, once the federal government gets involved I have no faith that it would stay voluntary.''
The verbal sparring is a precursor of what promises to be a heated fight over whether the conveniences of having one of these new licenses outweighs any intrusion on personal privacy.
At this point Johnson and her allies may have the upper hand: Napolitano admitted she can't fulfill her agreement with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff unless the Legislature gives the state Department of Motor Vehicles permission to actually create a new license.
The state Senate voted last year to bar Arizona from participating in the federal government's Real ID program approved two years ago by Congress. That law requires states to issue licenses the Department of Homeland Security believes are secure and readable by machines. It also says those without a Real ID-compliant license will not be able to board aircraft --even for domestic flights -- or enter federal buildings.
The measure also was approved by two House committees but never got a final vote.
