Pubdate: Mon, 16 Sep 2002
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Randal C. Archibold

PATAKI VISITS BLACK CHURCH TO SEEK VOTES OF DEMOCRATS

MOUNT VERNON, N.Y., Sept. 15 - Making a rare campaign appearance at a 
predominantly black church, Gov. George E. Pataki today continued his drive 
to cut into traditional Democratic support with a spirited address that 
called for unity and promised to advocate for causes that blacks have 
championed.

Mr. Pataki, speaking at Grace Baptist Church, one of the most influential 
in Westchester, said the terrorist attack demonstrated that New Yorkers are 
capable of uniting regardless of race or ethnicity. And on more practical 
terms, he reiterated his vow - despite Democratic criticism that he has not 
followed through - to reduce the prison population by relaxing drug laws 
that prescribe mandatory sentences for even minor offenses.

"The terrorists didn't say, `We're going to hit the 89th floor because the 
white people are on the 89th floor and the black people are on the 90th 
floor and Latinos are down on the 78th floor,' " Mr. Pataki said, his voice 
rising. "They didn't care who they were attacking. They wanted to kill as 
many of us as possible because we're Americans."

Mr. Pataki even seemed willing to risk a bit of upstate support to rally 
the congregation. He criticized the building of a large number of prisons 
under the administration of his predecessor, Mario M. Cuomo, saying, "The 
strongest economic growth policy upstate was the building of prisons."

"It was a disgrace," Mr. Pataki said, adding that under his administration 
the prison population had declined. He described the Cuomo administration's 
attitude as: " `We're going to bring jobs to rural upstate New York by 
building prisons, and you can have guards who are going to have jobs.' Who 
was going to those prisons? Lower-income, mostly minority kids from 
downstate because our criminal justice system allowed the violent people 
out on the street and put the nonviolent in."

The governor's visit was out of the playbook of many Democratic candidates, 
who regularly visit black churches on Sundays at election time as a way of 
increasing support among a key constituency.

But then Mr. Pataki, a Republican seeking a third term in an increasingly 
Democratic state, has sought to promote himself as if not a Democrat, 
someone who can break bread with one. The pastor of Grace Baptist Church, 
the Rev. W. Franklyn Richardson, is a Democrat who has endorsed Mr. Pataki 
and is appearing in a campaign television commercial for him.

Mr. Pataki's strategists have said that while they do not expect to win the 
black vote - he received 11 percent in 1994 and 15 percent in '98 - they do 
believe that they can lessen support for State Comptroller H. Carl McCall, 
the Democratic nominee, who is seeking to become the state's first black 
governor.

Mr. Pataki has met with black ministers, some of whom have worked with Mr. 
Pataki's aides to win state aid for economic development projects in their 
neighborhoods.

The Rev. DeVore Chapman of the Greater Bright Light Baptist Church in 
Brooklyn, whose church received a $1.8 million state grant in 1999 to build 
housing for low-income people, is serving as vice chairman of Democrats for 
Pataki. Perhaps Mr. Pataki's most high-profile supporter among black 
ministers is the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, whose Abyssinian Baptist Church 
in Harlem has worked with the governor on a number of economic development 
projects.

Mr. Richardson's congregation, working with Mount Vernon city officials, is 
seeking to develop a parcel across the street from the church. Details have 
not been worked out, but both Mr. Pataki and Mr. Richardson mentioned it today.

"We have not seen the specifics yet, but we expect they are going to be 
giving us a proposal," Mr. Pataki said as he left the service. "We're going 
to take a look, and see what we can do to make it happen."

Steven Greenberg, a spokesman for Mr. McCall, who did not campaign publicly 
today, said Mr. McCall enjoys widespread Democratic support, from blacks 
and others, "and a sizable number of Republicans and independents, too."

"George Pataki is going to try and fool voters, and he will not be 
successful because voters are smarter than George Pataki gives them credit 
for," Mr. Greenberg said.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens