Judge Says Democrats Can Question Rollins on New Jersey Campaigning

A federal judge issued an order Monday permitting Democratic Party lawyers to question Gov.-elect Christine Todd Whitman’s campaign manager, Edward J. Rollins, and two others to determine whether Republicans made payoffs to suppress the black vote in New Jersey’s close gubernatorial election.

The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into initial claims by Rollins that Republicans paid Democratic party workers to stay home and not to help Gov. James J. Florio on Election Day.

Rollins told reporters in Washington last week that Whitman’s campaign had paid $500,000 to black ministers and to party workers to discourage them from working actively to get Florio supporters to the polls. The Democratic governor lost by less than 28,000 votes out of 2.4 million cast. Rollins retracted his statement as incorrect the next day.

Whitman has denied that any payoffs were made to hold down the vote and has pledged to cooperate fully with state and federal investigations.

“We are absolutely certain that there is no substance to his (Rollins’) assertions,” John Lacey, a lawyer for the Republican State Committee told U.S. District Judge Dickinson Debevoise.