Pubdate: Tue, 11 Jul 2000
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2000 The New York Times Company
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Author: David Kocieniewski

FRISKING PHOTO PUTS WHITMAN ON DEFENSIVE

TRENTON, July 10 -- After enduring two years of criticism for the
racial profiling practices of her state troopers, Gov. Christine Todd
Whitman is suddenly struggling with a self-inflicted public relations
problem: a photo of the governor herself, grinning as she frisks a
black man.

The photograph, which was subpoenaed by two New Jersey troopers who
have filed a discrimination suit against the state, was taken by a
trooper during a trip Mrs. Whitman made with officers as they
patrolled in Camden one night in 1996. The picture was obtained by The
Associated Press and published in several New Jersey newspapers over
the weekend.

It shows the governor in a baseball cap, dungarees and black Kevlar
gloves, patting down a man whose arms are splayed against a
graffiti-covered wall.

The symbolism of the photo and the facts of the frisking -- the man
was stopped for "suspicious activity" but not arrested or found to be
violating the law -- have drawn criticism from civil rights leaders
who have long questioned Mrs. Whitman's sensitivity to inner-city
residents, and from the governor's political foes.

The governor was at the National Governors' Association meeting today
in State College, Pa., and her press office did not make her available
to discuss the issue.

But she told the A.P. that she regretted taking part in the frisk, and
was simply trying to learn firsthand about the dangers that officers
encounter in Camden, the state's most impoverished and crime-ridden
city.

Mrs. Whitman said she hoped that the shock value of the photo -- which
was taken two years before racial profiling became the state's most
consuming issue -- would not overshadow the fact that in 1999 she
became the first state official to acknowledge that state troopers
were singling out minority drivers for traffic stops, and went on to
overhaul the force to discourage discriminatory practices.

"That worries me, and for that I am deeply sorry," she
said.

The timing of the photo's release -- three weeks before the Republican
National Convention in Philadelphia, just across the Delaware River
from Camden -- could hardly be worse for the governor. Some of her
supporters still hold out hopes that Gov. George W. Bush of Texas
might choose her as a running mate, but Mrs. Whitman's close advisers
say she is trying to position herself for a cabinet position or
ambassador's post.

The Rev. Al Sharpton and the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey are
scheduled to meet this week to plan protests around the state, and
they said they would also hold a demonstration after the opening
ceremonies of the convention.

"I don't think it needs any explanation why it took her so long to
understand the outrage over racial profiling -- she herself engaged in
it," Mr. Sharpton said. "You're not talking about speculation. You're
not talking about interpretations. Here you clearly have a governor
engaged in this and caught in the act."

Civil rights advocates and Mrs. Whitman's political opponents have
pounced on the issue in the days since the photo first surfaced,
calling the frisking a sign of her callousness toward minorities.
Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the New Jersey chapter of the
American Civil Liberties Union, said the search was also illegal
because troopers had apparently searched the man -- and found no
contraband -- before turning him over to the governor.

State Senator Wayne Bryant, a Democrat from Camden, said the photo
would set back attempts to heal the state's racial divisions.

"This would never have happened in white suburbia," said Mr. Bryant,
who is black. "In a state with a profiling problem, it sends a signal
that you can do things to young African-Americans -- the kind of
things that you wouldn't think of doing to other people. They reduced
this individual to something less than a human being. It was like a
rodeo, and they got caught up in the roundup."

The photo was taken in the spring of 1996, a year before Mrs. Whitman
ran for re-election.

Mrs. Whitman, who went on to take credit for bringing down New
Jersey's crime rate during the 1997 campaign, enjoyed good relations
with the state's law enforcement community at the time and said she
wanted to spend a few nights working alongside the state troopers she
had sent to roust Camden's violent drug gangs.

In April 1998, however, the climate changed when two troopers shot
three unarmed minority men on the New Jersey Turnpike, and the
complaints of racial discrimination by troopers grew to dominate the
state's political agenda.

Details that have begun to emerge about the governor's midnight tour
of Camden recall some of the serious discrimination allegations
against the state police.

Phil Moran, the lawyer who subpoenaed the photos, said a state police
supervisor had offered an extra week of paid vacation to the troopers
who were escorting the governor if they brought back a photo of Mrs.
Whitman frisking a black suspect.

The supervisor used a racial slur to refer to blacks, Mr. Moran said,
and apparently thought it was funny to harass black civilians.

The officer told Mrs. Whitman about the bonus vacation time,
apparently without repeating the racial slur, and she agreed to be
photographed, Mr. Moran said.

But Jayne O'Connor, a spokeswoman for Mrs. Whitman, said today that
the governor never knew that the trooper planned to exchange her photo
for vacation time. The governor wanted to frisk a suspect, Ms.
O'Connor said, because she wanted to take part in the same experiences
as the troopers.

In a May 1996 interview with The Courier-Post, Mrs. Whitman described
her travels through Camden with the troopers and said the visit had
helped her better understand the challenges facing inner-city parents.
She did not mention taking part in a frisk. The governor also
recounted the tale of one man who was searched, but was released after
officers found he had $100 in his pocket. She told the paper that the
man had told her, "Not everyone you find with a lot of cash on them in
Camden is a criminal, governor."

It is unclear whether the man she described was the man she
frisked.

Under New Jersey law, it is illegal for officers to perform a search
unless they believe a suspect is armed or has committed a crime, said
Ms. Jacobs, of the civil liberties union.

"It's disheartening that the war on drugs can lead some elected
officials to trample on people's rights, to use people as props and to
carry out searches as photo opportunities," she said.
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