N.J. Gov.-Elect Hears Praise at Black Churches

Gov.-elect Christine Todd Whitman visited two black churches on a fence-mending mission Sunday and heard sermons praising the way she handled allegations that her campaign paid black ministers to suppress black votes.

“Our pulpits and our churches are not for sale,” the Rev. DeForest B. Soaries Jr. told about 350 worshipers at First Baptist Church in Somerset.

Whitman “was willing to affirm her belief in the integrity of the black church,” Soaries said. “She said: ‘I think this is an insult to black preachers and black people.’ ”

Whitman’s campaign manager, Edward J. Rollins, told reporters Tuesday that Republicans ran a $500,000 vote-suppressing operation in the Nov. 2 election. He said the GOP paid black ministers to not encourage their congregations to vote and paid Democratic organizers to stay home. Rollins retracted his statement a day later.

Soaries told a news conference Sunday afternoon that he and leaders of other churches throughout the state, including St. Matthew, planned to file a federal class-action defamation lawsuit against Rollins.

Whitman beat Democratic Gov. James J. Florio by fewer than 27,000 votes. She maintains no votes were suppressed, and no one has confirmed receiving any payments.

Whitman, who attended church with her husband, John, said little to reporters outside the churches other than that she plans to take office in January. The state chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People has demanded that Whitman not take office until a full investigation is completed.

The U.S. attorney in Newark, the FBI and the state are conducting investigations. The Democratic State Committee will ask U.S. District Judge Dickinson Debevoise today for permission to question Rollins and other Republican officials under oath.