Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, November 14, 1993                   TAG: 9403180034
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DEMEANING

But Ed Rollins, political consultant for New Jersey Gov.-elect Christine Todd Whitman, bragged that as much as half a million dollars was paid out to quiet some traditional get-out-the-black-vote voices. Whitman has denied any knowledge of the scheme. Rollins has since recanted somewhat.

The story, true or not, is insulting to black Americans and to democracy.

Democrats long have made a practice of "putting money on the streets," especially in black communities. Contributions are dropped into collection plates at black churches to encourage black turnout, which usually overwhelmingly favors Democratic candidates.

This practice, if properly reported, is legal. The money is paid ostensibly to offset expenses or lost wages of those working to get other people to the polls.

So, is it worse if politicians were to grease the palms of black community leaders in exchange for doing nothing to drum up black turnout? Rollins, in initially boasting to reporters how the Whitman camp did just that, said he had simply "played the game the way the game is played in New Jersey."

But this is not a good game.

Some "walking-around money," as it is called, is legitimate. A lot is not. In the case of subsidizing get-out-the-vote efforts, at least it can be argued that democratic participation is being helped along. Shelling out to do nothing, on the other hand, is reminiscent of poll taxes and literacy tests used for years by white politicians (in Virginia, by the conservative Democratic "Byrd machine") to effectively restrain black voting.

In 1981, the Republican National Committee financed a program that placed intimidating-looking poll workers at voting sites in minority neighborhoods. The workers wore armbands and carried signs warning that incorrectly registered voters would be prosecuted. Democrat Jim Florio lost the governor's race that year by 1,797 votes. This year (after serving a term as governor), he lost by fewer than 40,000 votes out of 2.4 million cast.

Whitman's denials and Rollins' recantations shouldn't be dismissed. It may be that carrots rather than sticks were not used this year to assure the same result as in 1981. But if black ministers or others did take money for the purpose of suppressing turnout, their shame is on par with anyone who made payoffs.

White and affluent Americans also are drawn into the cash nexus of political campaigns, of course, typically with much greater sums - and with fancier rationales, such as buying "access." But that's merely to say that money has too great a role in politics. Its blatant use to buy votes - or no-votes - is a cynical and demeaning scam.

It is a scam particularly insulting to black people, as if they were unthinking creatures with no interest in self-government, content to be rounded up and herded to and fro by the highest bidder. It's to be hoped Rollins' original story was untrue.

Keywords:
POLITICS