Paid to Stay At Home?

Ed Rollins must wish he had kept his big mouth shut. For years the Republican campaign consultant has been known as a compulsive truth teller with a penchant for speaking his mind even when it reflected badly on the candidate he was managing. Last week Rollins set a new standard for provocative candor by boasting that his latest electoral triumph -- Christine Todd Whitman's razor-thin victory over New Jersey Governor Jim Florio -- was largely the result of a political dirty trick.

In a breakfast meeting with Washington journalists, Rollins claimed that "street smart" New Jersey Republicans had doled out $500,000 in "walking-around money" to black ministers and Democratic Party activists on Whitman's behalf. But in this case the payments were actually sitting- around money, designed to counter Florio's heavy support among black voters by discouraging them from turning out on Election Day. As Rollins told the journalists, "We went into black churches and we basically said to ministers who had endorsed Florio, 'Do you have a special project?' And they said, 'We've already endorsed Florio.' We said, 'That's fine -- don't get up on the Sunday pulpit and preach. We know you've endorsed him, but don't get up there and say it's your moral obligation that you go on Tuesday to vote for Jim Florio.' " He added that Republicans had paid "key workers" in black Democratic strongholds to "go home, sit and watch television" instead of delivering voters to the polls. Bragged Rollins: "I think to a certain extent we suppressed their vote."

The comments ignited a storm of criticism and investigation. Snapped the Rev. Edward Verner, head of a black ministers' organization in Newark: "To suggest that the black vote or the black church is up for sale is a racist lie." The Justice Department and the state attorney general began investigations of possible criminal and civil rights violations, while Democratic leaders went to court seeking to have Whitman's victory nullified. Whitman initially denounced Rollins' assertion as "blatantly untrue" but late in the week said she would consider resigning if it was proved that the payoffs had been made and changed the outcome of the race.

Rollins' tale gained credibility from two facts: Whitman squeaked by with a margin of about 30,000 votes out of 2.4 million ballots, and turnout in black areas where Florio had overwhelming support fell off sharply. Though Florio garnered about 80% of the Newark vote, for example, his total was about 10,000 votes fewer than in 1989. Before Rollins piped up, Democrats had ascribed the lack of enthusiasm for Florio to the Governor's lackluster campaigning in black areas. "They took blacks for granted and paid a price in the turnout," said an aide to Newark Democratic Congressman Donald Payne. Now he suggests the drop-off may have had a more sinister explanation: that the G.O.P. had paid the price in cash.

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