Race between Hochul, O'Loughlin finally starting to heat up
DAN MEYER Political Columnist
With so much attention being paid this fall to the race for Erie County executive - Chris Collins and Jim Keane continue to exchange barbs as we head toward the stretch run to the general election next month - just a couple of weeks ago, it appeared likely that the race for county clerk would quietly slide under the radar screen.

But thanks to Gov. Eliot Spitzer's plan to provide illegal immigrants with driver's licenses, the one-on-one battle between incumbent Clerk Kathy Hochul and challenger Bill O'Loughlin has received far more attention than either candidate probably expected.

The race for county clerk is normally a pretty low-key and laid-back affair anyway, and that fact, coupled with all the attention being paid to see whether it will be Keane or Collins who takes over in 2008 for Joel Giambra as the county's top elected official, had most political insiders calculating an easy win for Hochul.

Despite having four lines on the ballot, including the Democratic endorsement in a land where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by nearly 120,000, Hochul is under somewhat of a firestorm based on her stance on Spitzer's plan for offering immigrants a license to drive in the Empire State.

O'Loughlin, a Republican whose campaign is based on the mind-set that he is a "businessman and not a politician" and that he is "fed up" with how county government currently operates, says if elected he will outright refuse to grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, even if it means he may have to face a lawsuit from the governor and possibly even be thrown in jail.

Hochul denies the claims that O'Loughlin made, both in a published report and in an on-air radio debate held this past weekend, that she has done a flip-flop of sorts when it comes to her opinion of Spitzer's plan. Despite being a Spitzer appointee, Hochul maintains she is among the county clerks from across the state opposed to Spitzer's plan who would ignore his executive order.

O'Loughlin doesn't believe that, saying Hochul's loyalty to Spitzer and the state's Democratic Party would win out.

Both candidates have made it perfectly clear that concerns about homeland security would qualify Spitzer's plan as an open invitation for potential terrorists to come to New York, something that, in this post-9/11 era, alarms emergency first responders.

Hochul says she is happy the driver's license issue came up "because it has provided the opportunity for me and my opponent to distinguish ourselves as far as how our leadership styles measure up."

Other items of interest in the clerk's race include:

• Hochul refuting O'Loughlin's claim that she is a "career politician," citing her "passion for public service" and that it is O'Loughlin's aspirations, which saw him explore the possibility of running for three elected positions in the past four years, that call for him to be labeled a "serial politician."

• O'Loughlin, labeling the county's Department of Motor Vehicles as a "political patronage dumping ground," causing Hochul to fire back with information about O'Loughlin's past desire to land a job with the county's Water Authority, considered to be the home of plum patronage positions in these parts.

• Hochul saying O'Loughlin "has a serious lack of understanding the fundamental operations" of the clerk's office and that his "desperation tactics" show he is worried about Hochul defeating him in November.

• O'Loughlin calling Hochul's past employment as a deputy county clerk and councilwoman in Hamburg a "double dip," which caused Hochul to point out how O'Loughlin, as a councilman in Amherst, voted to give a pay raise to himself and his colleagues.

Hochul appears to be in the lead based on unofficial polling done by both parties, but O'Loughlin may be able to make a move, thanks to the attention Spitzer's driver's license plan has brought to the race.

Pardon the pun, but it's time to buckle up. It could be a bumpy ride from now until Nov. 6.

(Daniel Meyer is a columnist for the Weekly Independent Newspapers of Western New York. Opinions expressed here are those of the author.)