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STEAMED ROLLER

ALBANY – Gov. Spitzer yesterday ripped Mayor Bloomberg for openly questioning the governor’s new policy allowing illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses.

“He is wrong at every level – dead wrong, factually wrong, legally wrong, morally wrong, ethically wrong,” Spitzer said during an appearance in Rochester.

The attack surprised some insiders, particularly since Spitzer had clung to the popular Bloomberg during the height of the dirty-tricks scandal surrounding the governor over the summer.

Asked about Spitzer’s comments, Bloomberg spokesman John Gallagher said, “We raised our concerns at a meeting [yesterday] with the governor’s staff and they acknowledged that they are legitimate and legally sound. We will continue to discuss this issue with the state as we go forward.”

Bloomberg warned on Wednesday that the policy change will mean that legal New Yorkers will no longer be able to use driver’s licenses as identification acceptable to the federal government before boarding a plane. Instead, he said, they will have to carry passports or other photos IDs.

Yesterday, the mayor, who is seen as a pro-immigration politician, added, “I’m really skeptical that we should be issuing driver’s licenses willy-nilly, because it then leads to lots of other problems in terms of voter registration and other things. But it’s the governor’s call.”

Spitzer has been taking heat since announcing the state will no longer require applicants for driver’s licenses to provide Social Security numbers, or letters showing they are not eligible for a Social Security card.

Meanwhile, a revolt is taking shape among some upstate county clerks who run the local DMV offices.

At least one has said they will not comply with the Spitzer edict, while others are asking the governor to reconsider.

“As this policy change is not a matter of law duly passed by both houses of the Legislature and signed by [Spitzer], I am under no obligation to issue these driver’s licenses, Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola said.

He claimed he will send any illegal immigrant seeking a driver’s license to the state-run DMV office in Albany. He said he expects other clerks to follow suit. With Post Wire Services

kenneth.lovett@nypost.com