David Alexander Paterson (Leaders)

born on May 20, 1954 in Brooklyn to Basil Paterson and his wife Portia, is the 55th and current Governor of New York. He is the first governor of New York of African American heritage and also the second legally blind[2] governor of any U.S. state after Bob C. Riley, who was Acting Governor of Arkansas for eleven days in January 1975.

After graduating from Hofstra Law School, Paterson worked in the District Attorney’s office of Queens County, New York, and on the staff of Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins. In 1985, he was elected to the New York State Senate to a seat that was once held by his father, former New York Secretary of State Basil Paterson. In 2003, he rose to the position of Senate Minority Leader. Paterson was selected as running mate by then-New York Attorney General and Democratic Party nominee Eliot Spitzer in the 2006 New York gubernatorial election. Spitzer and Paterson were elected in November 2006 with 69 percent of the vote, and Paterson took office as Lieutenant Governor on January 1, 2007.

When Spitzer resigned in the wake of a prostitution scandal, Paterson was sworn in as governor of New York on March 17, 2008. As Governor of New York, Paterson has reportedly received lower approval ratings than any other New York governor has received.

At the age of three months, Paterson contracted an ear infection which spread to his optic nerve, leaving him with no sight in his left eye and severely limited vision in his right. Since New York City public schools would not guarantee him an education without placing him in special education classes, his family bought a home in the Long Island suburb of South Hempstead so that he could attend mainstream classes there. Paterson was the first disabled student in the Hempstead public schools, and graduated from Hempstead High School in 1971.

Paterson’s staff reads documents to him over voice mail.

One day after Paterson’s inauguration as the Governor of New York, both he and his wife acknowledged having had extramarital affairs, one with a state employee. Paterson’s self-admissions are in contravention to what the press has dubbed the “Bear Mountain Compact,” a practice by lawmakers that their transgressions north of the Bear Mountain Bridge will not be reported south of it.

In May 2008, Governor Paterson informed New York State agencies that they were required to recognize same-sex marriage licenses from other jurisdictions for purposes of employee benefits.

Paterson and his wife, Michelle Paige Paterson, live in New York City. They have two children.