Patrick to attend swearing-in of New York governor

By Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick is traveling to Albany today to attend the swearing-in of David A. Paterson as governor of New York.

When Paterson takes the oath of office this afternoon, he will join Patrick as the nation's other black governor. Paterson is lieutenant governor and a longtime state senator who represented Harlem for more than 20 years.

Paterson will become the third black man to be chief executive of a state since Reconstruction. L. Douglas Wilder became the first when voters tapped him to be governor of Virginia in 1989. Patrick was elected to lead Massachusetts in 2006.

Paterson is taking office after Eliot Spitzer, who resigned last week in disgrace after 14 months in office when he was accused of patronizing high-priced prostitutes.

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