RAHWAY: Jerry Coleman, Green Party candidate for the 7th Congressional District that includes portions of Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties, said campaign reform is needed because it's easy for candidates to buy votes.

Coleman, who once served eight years as a Rahway councilman, accused Jon Corzine, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, of donating $25,000 to the New Jersey Black Ministers Council and, in turn, the ministers affiliated with the council encouraged their congregations to vote for Corzine in the June primary election.

But Rev. Reginald T. Jackson, the council's executive director, has denied those charges, saying Corzine, who is running against Republican Bob Franks in the Nov. 7 election, gave St. Matthew's AME Church in Orange $25,000 to be used for a church-expansion project. Jackson is the pastor of St. Matthew's. The money was donated from the Jon and Joanne Corzine Foundation.

"Coleman is incorrect. The organization (council) doesn't endorse candidates. We don't tell our folks who to vote for," Jackson said, adding that he just encourages his congregation to vote, no matter who they vote for.

But according to Corzine's Web site, "African-American ministers, including the Reverend Reginald T. Jackson and other leaders of the Black Ministers Council" are listed under organizations that have endorsed Corzine.

Tom Shea, spokesman for Corzine's campaign, said the money was donated to the church, not the Black Ministers Council.

Jackson said the money from Corzine was used to help support a church after-school program and the council's state office in Trenton. He said he didn't tell his congregation or the council who the donation was from because he didn't want to sway their minds.

In addition, Jackson said the pledge was made July 1999 and the church received the check in December, six months before the June primary.

But still insisting Corzine was trying to buy votes with the contribution, Coleman said campaign reform is needed.

"Those contributions were made to buy votes. With all the ministers in the council and their congregations together, you can see the weight of that endorsement," Coleman said. "We really need campaign reform."

Coleman, vying for the 7th District seat now held by Franks, also charged Corzine with donating $50,000 to the Rainbow/PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) Coalition, an organization headed by civil-rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson. In turn, Jackson, "on the eve of the primaries," endorsed Corzine, Coleman said.

The money donated from the Jon and Joanne Corzine Foundation was used for the Wall Street Project, a program to increase the number of blacks working on Wall Street, Shea said. He said Corzine was working with Jackson on the Wall Street Project.

The Rainbow/PUSH Coalition office did not return repeated telephone calls.

Chandra M. Hayslett: (732) 146-5500, Ext. 7262. E-mail chayslet@thnt.com

from the Home News Tribune