New governor does proud his Caribbean roots

David Paterson will be making history today. Not only does the former lieutenant governor assume the role of New York State's governor after a stunning fall from grace of the once loved and admired Eliot Spitzer, who was compelled to resign last week in the midst of a shocking sex scandal. But he will be the state's first black, Caribbean-descended, or legally blind governor: and he is all three.

Paterson, the 54-year-old Columbia and Hofstra graduate who lost most of his sight as a young child after an infection, takes the oath today as New York State's 55th governor in the Assembly this afternoon. In so-doing, he will no doubt be making proud his Grenadian and Jamaican grandparents, and following in the footsteps of his father Basil Paterson, former secretary of state and deputy mayor.

Paterson will have his hands full, first with a 1 April deadline for delivering the state's budget. He will also have the task of bridge-building with the state's Republican law-makers to get legislation and programmes through where the combative Spitzer was unable to make headway.