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.