Spitzer Scandal Puts Little-Known Lieutenant at Threshold of Power

NEW YORK — Lt. Gov. David Paterson, a politician little known outside New York, was unexpectedly poised Tuesday to become the state's first black governor and the nation's first legally blind governor.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer faced strong pressure to resign one day after unidentified law enforcement officials told news organizations that he had spent thousands of dollars for a night with a prostitute. New York state Republicans said they would seek his impeachment if he did not step down within 48 hours, and several New York City newspapers called for his resignation.

TIM ROSKE/AP Photo (enlarge photo) New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, right, joined by Lt. Gov. David Paterson in this Feb. 7, 2007 file photo. Legally blind and virtually unknown outside of his state, David Paterson, New York's lieutenant governor since 2007, is poised to become the state's first black chief executive if Eliot Spitzer resigns over allegations he was linked to a prostitution ring.

If Spitzer quits, Paterson would automatically become governor and serve a term that runs through the end of 2010. The two Democrats were elected on the same ticket 16 months ago.

Paterson made no public statements as Spitzer weighed his future, but there were signs that he is preparing for a succession.

"He told me he's prepared to step in and provide the leadership that's necessary to carry this state forward," former state Comptroller H. Carl McCall told Bloomberg News. McCall has known Paterson since he was a teen-ager.

"David is somebody who works hard at getting along with people, works hard at common ground to make things happen," McCall said.

James Tedisco, who has clashed with Spitzer as leader of the minority Republicans in the state Assembly, told reporters that Paterson had called him Monday.

"He called me to ask if we would give him the benefit of the doubt, and go forward," Tedisco said. "I told him we would."

Paterson, 53, is from a prominent political family in Harlem. His father is Basil Paterson, the first black person to serve as New York's secretary of state and as vice-chair of the national Democratic Party.

Former New York Mayor Ed Koch said Paterson is "highly intelligent, has a first-rate warm personality and is an excellent leader. If he becomes governor, we will be in good hands."

Widely respected by New York lawmakers of both parties, Paterson has long been known as a trailblazer.

He was elected to represent Harlem in the New York State Senate in 1985 and became minority leader in 2002 when the GOP controlled the chamber. He was the first black legislative leader in New York history.

In that role, he proposed legislation for a $1 billion voter-approved stem cell research initiative. He also pushed for a statewide alternative energy strategy and a crackdown against domestic violence.

A biography issued by state Senate Democrats in 2005 said that Paterson "has attempted for years to reform New York's draconian Rockefeller drug laws" and that he backed "community-based (rather than prison-based) treatment and offender re-entry programs."

A 2006 profile in the New York Observer newspaper called him a "mystery man" who had "a complicated relationship with the truth and a difficulty in saying no" to opponents.

When his interviewer suggested that he was too quick to agree, "Paterson had a ready answer: 'I think that's right. How do you like that? I think that's a good criticism. I think I'm by nature a conciliator.'"

As the state's first black lieutenant governor, he has been an advocate for minority- and women-owned businesses in New York.

Paterson, who lost most of his sight as an infant after suffering an infection, became the first visually impaired person to address a Democratic National Convention in 2004. He is a champion for people with visual and physical disabilities.

The American Foundation for the Blind said Tuesday that if Spitzer resigns, Paterson would become the first legally blind governor in U.S. history. The foundation noted Paterson served on its Board of Trustees from 1997 through 2006.

A graduate of Columbia University and Hofstra Law School, Paterson is an adjunct professor at Columbia's School for International and Public Affairs.

Paterson and his wife, Michelle, have two children, Ashley and Alex.