to extend voting rights to noncitizens. He told a crowd gathered at the West Indian American Day Carnival Parade that he believed noncitizens should be granted voting rights. He stressed he was asking for a change in policy, rather than a new law, citing that although 22 states and territories between 1776 and 1920 allowed the practice, none do now. Spitzer issued a statement that he did not agree with Paterson's position, and said he was unaware Paterson would be speaking on the matter. Paterson had tried to introduce legislation granting voting rights to noncitizens as a State Senator fifteen years earlier. Reverse discrimination lawsuit In February 2008, a U.S. District Judge denied a motion to dismiss a racial discrimination lawsuit naming Paterson. Governor of New York (2008–2010) In the midst of a prostitution scandal, Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned his position effective March 17, 2008. Upon hearing that Spitzer intended to resign, Paterson called his then-wife Michelle and reportedly said, "I think I'll kill myself". Following Spitzer's resignation, Paterson was sworn in as the 55th governor of New York, at the New York State Capitol on March 17, 2008, by New York chief judge Judith Kaye. Paterson is the first black governor in the history of the state of New York and the fourth black governor in the history of the United States (the first three being the Reconstruction-era P. B. S. Pinchback of Louisiana, Virginia's Douglas Wilder and Massachusetts's Deval Patrick). The lieutenant governor's office remained vacant until September 22, 2009, when the New York Court of Appeals ruled in a 4–3 decision that Paterson's appointment of Richard Ravitch was constitutional. Paterson is the second legally blind governor of a U.S. state (the first was Bob C. Riley, who was acting governor of Arkansas for 11 days in January 1975). During his tenure, Paterson's staff read documents to him over voice mail. On July 17, 2008, Paterson was the keynote speaker addressing the 99th annual convention of the NAACP in Cincinnati, Ohio. On October 24, 2008, Paterson's top aide, Charles J. O'Byrne, resigned from his post following the revelation that he owed nearly $300,000 in back taxes. O'Byrne admitted to having failed to pay taxes for five years. Although Paterson is a lifelong Democrat who was considered a liberal in the state Senate, he earned praise from conservatives during his time as governor for making major spending cuts; for