Now that the steamroller is flattened like a pancake, it's time to meet the soon-to-be new boss. Same as the old boss? Certainly not on the surface: Lieutenant Governor David A. Paterson (pictured being sworn in back in 2007) is a 53-year-old African-American who has been legally blind since infancy. Thanks to Spitzer's total meltdown, Paterson, who has partial vision in just one eye, will be the first African-American governor of New York State, the......

The NY State Legislature has long been considered the most dysfunctional state government in the country, and NY Sun has a great article giving weight to that statement: "The Empire State's Legislature employs more people than any other state legislature in the nation." Well, all that dysfunction has to be enabled from someone - or many someones! According to the most recent data from the National Conference of State Legislatures, the NY State Assembly and......

Photographs of Spitzer, Sharpton, Dinkins and Bloomberg at Sharpton's National Action Network by Tina Fineberg/AP All over the city, events were held to remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. One of the biggest events was the Reverend Al Sharpton's annual forum at his National Action Network in Harlem, which attracted Governor Spitzer, Senator Schumer, former Mayor Dinkins and Mayor Bloomberg. Sharpton hailed Bloomberg's efforts to make the city less racially divisive, "It is......

That just happened! Senator Barack Obama won the Democratic Iowa Caucus with at least 37% of the vote (projections are changing). Former Senator John Edwards got 30% of the vote while Senator Hillary Clinton got 29%. The media is playing this as a huge failure for the Senator from New York, given how powerful the Clinton machine has seemed. Also stunning: There were 82% more Democratic voters in this year's caucus compared with 2004,......

Millions of people flocked to Eastern Parkway to celebrate the West Indian American Day Parade yesterday. This was the 40th year of the parade, which had floats, dancers, and bands interacting with the crowds. Many of the spectators wore or waved flags of native countries and enjoying delicious food. Many politicians marched in the parade, including Governor Spitzer and Lieutenant Governor David Paterson, who said, "This day is for everyone. Everybody is Caribbean today."......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A hostage situation at Rockaway Boulevard and 147th Street in Queens, a train job at East 180 St in the Bronx and a pedestrian was struck at West 66th and Amsterdam in Manhattan The disgruntled former employee who shot and killed a former supervisors and injured two others at Co-op City is claiming self-defense. The Politicker finds out that Lieutenant Governor David Paterson supports non-citizen voting (but Paterson is......

After Attorney General Cuomo found that Governor Spitzer's staffers were using state police records to attack rival Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, everyone agrees on one thing: It's very bad for Governor Spitzer. In a nutshell, Spitzer's aides, including communications director Darren Dopp, leaked information about possible misuse of state aircraft by Bruno to the Albany paper, the Times Union. Spitzers' aides later claimed that they were investigating Bruno's use of state aircraft because......

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions this week at DCist. Like the rest of country, we were floored by the news of so many dead coming out of Virginia Tech, and with so many of the victims and their relatives from the D.C. area, we felt it important to pay......

The controversial class trip to Cuba that public school students took with a teacher has a twist. NY Lieutenant Governor David Paterson actually called the Department of Education on behalf of the Beacon School to allow the DOE to authorize this year's class trip. Still, the DOE said no, and now the school, as well as officials, is left to explain how the trip still went forward. Since the DOE didn't approve the trip, the......

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, visited New York City yesterday. While the showiest part of their night may have been the presentation of a Global Environmental Citizen Award to the Prince from the Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment, we bet the most fun was had during the couple's visit the the Harlem Children's Zone. The Harlem Children's Zone, which includes the Promise Academy and other services and programs......

For politicians, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was busy as they made the rounds at a number of city events. Governor Spitzer, Lieutenant Governor Paterson, Mayor Bloomberg, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and Representative Charles Rangel all appeared at the Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network's House Justice and also the Brooklyn Academy of Music's celebration. Paterson and Rangel emphasized that the Iraq war would have been opposed by King. Spitzer mentioned meeting the family......

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. City offices, post offices and other government buildings are closed today in observance of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. Public schools are closed, as well. Some offices are closed today, too, and there are a number of events to participate in. The Brooklyn Academy of Music has its 21st Annual Brooklyn Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which includes a musical celebration and special guests like Senator......

If you didn't catch it the first billion times Governor Eliot Spitzer mentioned "reform" during the campaign trail, his State of the State address brought it up 31 times according to the NY Times count. His address emphasized a "one New York" that would spend far less, and mentioned things like the lack of progress at Ground Zero, longer school years, a property tax cut, bringing health insurance to the uninsured and lots of......

Yesterday afternoon, Governor Eliot Spitzer spoke to the people of New York State during his inaugural address and claimed, "Like Rip Van Winkle, New York has slept through much of the past decade while the rest of the world has passed us by." That's some ouchie for outgoing governor George Pataki! Or is that a rebuke on State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, under federal investigation for dealings with a business partner, who said, "I......

There's news about Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer's transition team (which includes El Diario publisher Rosanna Rosado and Time Warner Chairman and CEO Richard Parsons), but you can also visit the spiffy transition website. TransitionNY.org has some bios for Spitzer, Lieutenant Governor David Paterson, the transition team, and links to the state's various agencies. Okay, it's sort of thin on information now, as it's most notably an open call for people to apply for state jobs,......

The polls in New York close in a half hour, so the media won't be reporting returns until then. But it's still exciting and heartbreaking to watch the other states' elections returns. For starters, Bob Casey ousting Rick Santorum for a Senate seat in Pennsylvania? That's exciting. Heartbreaking would be reports of bugs and intimidation at the polls. NBC also projects that Bob Menendez will win re-election in NJ (with only 3% reporting, though).......

With just 55 days left, the dance cards are set for the general election. As expected, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Senator Hillary Clinton won their respectives primaries for governor and Senate. The NY Times noted that Clinton's reosounding win showed that her support of the Iraq war did not affect voter sentiment:“Clinton’s work ethic, her lack of enemies, and her fund-raising help for other Democrats have insulated her from party criticism, including on......

Assemblyman John Faso of Columbia Country beat former Massachusettes governor William Weld for the GOP nomination for NY State governor yesterday. However, Weld did have enough support to stay on the ballot and force a primary this fall. The split between the two candidates represents many problems in the Republican party: On one side, you've got moderate, socially progressive members (Weld is pro-choice), on the other side, it's the conservatives (Faso is anti-abortion and the......

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has found his 2006 gubernatorial running mate: Harlem's State Senator, David Patterson. While cynics might think that Spitzer was trying to solidify his base with black voters, Spitzer has actually succeeded in annoying some influential black leaders, as some, including Patterson's father, as The Politicker pointed out, have been supporting Leecia Eve, a former Hillary Clinton staffer, for Lieutenant Governor. The NY Times' story about the selection of Patterson is more......