N.J. Minister Says GOP Contacted Blacks : Politics: He maintains cash donations were offered to hold down vote in governors race. Whitman spokesman calls his charge ‘unsubstantiated.’

A co-chairman of the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey said Thursday that some clergymen have maintained that they were offered cash donations to cooperate in an effort to hold down the black vote by Republicans working to elect Christine Todd Whitman governor.

Whitman won last week’s election by an extremely thin margin.

“They were approached. We have received confirmation from some of them,” the Rev. Keith Owens, co-chairman of the organization of more than 500 black congregations and chairman of its political action committee. “They have acknowledged that the GOP had contacted them and that they have not accepted anything.”

Owens, a Camden, N.J., minister, said that so far his group had been able to confirm that attempts were made to enlist clergymen in the northern part of New Jersey. Inquiries are continuing, he said.

But appraised of Owens’ allegations that ministers had been contacted by Republican campaign workers, a spokesman for the governor-elect noted that the minister had not named any clergymen or congregations.

“The thing is simply in the nature of an unsubstantiated allegation,” Carl Golden said. “He (Owens) has an obligation if he is going to do this to be a little more forthcoming.”

The effort to suppress black voter turnout was first disclosed by Edward J. Rollins, Whitman’s campaign manager, which set off a firestorm of criticism in New Jersey. Rollins later sought to retract his statement.

Democrats have asked the Justice Department to conduct a criminal investigation for possible violations of the Voting Rights Law. The New Jersey Democratic State Committee plans to go into federal court next week, seeking to subpoena Rollins under oath.

Gov. James J. Florio lost last Tuesday’s election by about 28,000 votes out of the more than 2.4 million cast.

At a breakfast in Washington with reporters earlier in the week, Rollins said Whitman’s campaign had funneled about $500,000 in “walking around money” to black ministers and some Democratic organizers to suppress the turnout for Florio. He said black ministers who had endorsed the Democratic governor were asked not to urge their congregations the weekend before the election to vote for him. In return, Rollins said, “we made contributions to their favorite charity.”

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But a day later, Rollins denied he had ever said it, declaring: “My remarks left the impression of something that was not true and did not occur.”

Rollins could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday on Owens’ statement.

Asked if the Whitman campaign was starting its own investigation, Golden said: “There is no need to because we have all our spending documented.”

He said that under state law, Whitman’s campaign was required to release records of all its itemized disbursements by Nov. 22, but it hoped to do so sooner.

Whitman has emphatically denied that any improprieties took place.

“It did not happen,” she told reporters on Wednesday. “I don’t campaign that way. I urge people to vote. I don’t suppress votes.”

But Democratic State Chairman Ray Lesniak charged Thursday that Owens’ statements confirmed what Rollins had first disclosed at the breakfast with political reporters.

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“It proves the Republicans have a strategy of keeping urban voters, particularly black voters, away from the polls, and it is absolutely reprehensible and has to be condemned,” he charged. “Obviously, Christine Whitman’s denial that this did not occur was not accurate.”

Lesniak said the Democratic State Committee would try to determine through court proceedings where any money that was offered to black ministers came from and how it was spent.

“If the court determines there was election fraud . . . it could invalidate the election,” he said. “But it is much too early to say that. We are following up on our court complaint . . . . “

Lesniak added that while he was sure most offers from GOP campaign workers were rejected, his suit would seek to determine whether any money changed hands.

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Times political writer Ronald Brownstein in Washington also contributed to this story.