[nfbwatlk] David Patterson, more than a blind man

[Carl Jarvis]

An interesting look at New York's new Governor

 David Paterson: a NY Activist, Progressive, and Now Governor

By John Nichols

The Nation, Posted on March 13, 2008

 http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/www.thenation.com/79584/

In 1999, when New York City activists organized civil disobedience to
protest the police shooting of African-immigrant Amadou Diallo, one of New
> York state's most prominent legislators arrived at police headquarters in
Manhattan to be arrested as part of the remarkable civil rights protest.

The veteran state senator who was rising to a leadership role in 
Democratic
circles took a place symbolically blocking an entrance to One Police Place
and held his wrists out. Police officers attached plastic handcuffs and 
led
the distinguished gentleman away to be charged with disorderly conduct.

The legislator's name was David Paterson.

On Monday, he will become the 55th governor of New York state.

Little known outside New York until now, Paterson becomes an instant
political celebrity as he prepares to replace scandal-plagued Governor 
Eliot
Spitzer, whose career was ruined by his association with a money-for-sex
scandal.

Paterson is a radically different political player than Spitzer, a wealthy
lawyer who grabbed headlines for battling Wall Street insiders but who
always acted a little more like the bankers and brokers he challenged than
the victims of corporate excess.

There was nothing grassroots, neighborhood-level or community-based about
Eliot Spitzer's activism. As New York's Attorney General, he would as an
outgrowth of the controversy surrounding Diallo's death, announce plans to
conduct inquiries into police practices.

But Spitzer did not get his hands dirty in that fight or many others, and 
he
did not hold them out to be handcuffed.

That's why, when Spitzer prepared to seek the governorship, he asked
Paterson to run with him. Spitzer recognized that he needed the state
senator's credibility with community activists and progressives, even if 
the
gubernatorial candidate never quite embraced his running-mate as a full
partner.

As is often the case with lieutenant governors, the No. 2 man in New York
was not always treated fairly by the No. 1 man. They clashed a bit during
the 2006 campaign, and no one was surprised when Spitzer grabbed all the
headlines once the team took office.

But Paterson's decision to accept the second position on Spitzer's ticket 
in
the first weeks of 2006, which many questioned at the time, has two years
after the fact made him the man of the moment.

Paterson has been handed a remarkable opportunity to be not just a state
official but a national leader. And his long experience makes it likely 
that
he will handle the spotlight and the job with aplomb.

Democrats like Paterson's ex-boss, former New York Mayor David Dinkins, 
say
he will be a "superb governor," and even Republican partisans like New 
York
Congressman Peter King describe the veteran pol as "a class act."

That will distinguish Paterson from Spitzer, and may well be the key to 
his
success in a role that no one expected him to be taking at this point but
that most serious observers of New York politics say Paterson is uniquely
prepared to fill as an experienced and capable progressive leader.

Spitzer, egotistical in the extreme and never much of a team player,
personally picked Paterson to run with him. The move was a political one,
designed to strengthen Spitzer's hand as he grabbed for New York's top job
after a brief but high-profile tenure as state Attorney General.

There were predictable turf wars between Paterson and Spitzer during the
campaign and in its aftermath, particularly with regard to questions about
staffing and the role Paterson would have in the new administration.

More significantly, there were policy differences, including one related 
to
the Diallo case.

Paterson had sponsored legislation to establish reasonable restrictions on
the use of deadly force by police officers, but Spitzer publicly disavowed
the bill during the campaign.

Such incidents put distance between the candidates. But both men were 
smart
about their circumstance; they didn't let things get too ugly or too 
public.
And they won in November by a landslide.

Paterson--who, while his ambition may not rival that of Spitzer, has 
always
kept a politician's eye on the ladder to higher positions--wanted the
lieutenant governorship.

And Spitzer wanted Paterson on his team.

Paterson's strength was not so much that he was a prominent 
African-American
official, although that certainly didn't hurt his prospects in a state 
with
a large and politically-active African-American voting bloc. What really
mattered was that, while Spitzer seemed like a man who was pushing 
everyone
else aside in his rush to the governorship, Paterson was a Democrat with
deep roots in the party, a long record of public service and a good 
measure
of activist credibility.

David Paterson is a member of a great New York political family who grew 
up
in and around the state's public life. His father, Basil, was New York's
secretary of state, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 1970
and the first African-American vice chair of the Democratic National
Committee. Basil Paterson, a long-time hero of urban liberals, remains a
well-regarded labor lawyer and outspoken progressive -as well as his son's
closest counselor.

More than two decades ago, David Paterson won his father's old state 
senate
seat and began a rise that would take him to the top post in the chamber's
Democratic caucus, that of minority leader.

Paterson has always had better ties to progressives than Spitzer.

Paterson has, as well, a particularly strong track record of taking bold
positions on civil rights issues--especially gay rights. "David Paterson 
is
a terrific, progressive guy--extremely LGBTfriendly," says Ethan Geto, a
Democratic strategist with a history of activism on behalf of New York's
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Indeed, Geto told The
Advocate magazine that it was thought Paterson would be a champion in the
struggle to advance same-sex marriage initiatives in the state.

Paterson will, as well, emerge as a national leader on issues of concern 
to
people with disabilities-both as a passionate advocate and someone who can
speak from experience.

Paterson is legally blind--he suffers from optic atrophy, a degeneration 
of
the fibers of the optic nerve---but the condition has rarely seemed too 
much
of a burden for this graduate of Columbia University in 1977 and Hofstra 
Law
School.

As it happens, Paterson will be the first legally blind governor and only
the fourth African-American governor in the nation's history.

He will, as well, become Hillary Clinton's highest profile 
African-American
backer.

Paterson has worked hard to elect Clinton, earning high marks for his
campaigning on behalf of the senator's presidential run in Iowa and other
states.

The speculation was that, if Clinton won the presidency, Paterson would be
Spitzer's choice to succeed the senator. And Paterson would have been an
able senator. Now, he will be an able governor.

Paterson has to handle the transition smartly, which will be tough because
of the unusually rapid decline in Spitzer's fortunes--and because the
outgoing governor did not always keep his lieutenant governor in the loop.

But Paterson, because of his background as a senator, is likely to work
better and smarter with the legislature than did his edgy -often
confrontational -predecessor.

And in a year that is likely to see Democrats do very well in New York's
fall elections for legislative seats -whether Hillary Clinton or Barack
> Obama heads the national ticket, and especially if they are both on
it -Paterson is likely to go from strength to strength.

John Nichols writes about politics for The Nation magazine as its 
Washington
correspondent.