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. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens