The Good Side Of The Rollins Affair Could Be True Campaign Reform Remarks By The Political Consultant Have Put The Spotlight On Seldom-discussed Electoral Practices.

It's been two weeks since Ed Rollins, a consultant to New Jersey's Republican Gov.-elect Christine Todd Whitman, gave America's political community a bad case of indigestion with his offhand breakfast remarks that he spent $500,000 in "street money" to discourage black ministers and Democratic workers from getting voters to the polls. But amid all the partisan outrage on one side and the denials on the other, some key points have been ignored.

Because voter turnout in the largest New Jersey cities went up, not down, on Election Day, it is highly unlikely that there was a coordinated GOP scheme to suppress voting. If there were any rogue operations, the investigations now underway will probably uncover them.

Interestingly, as l'affaire Rollins winds down with a whimper, savvy Democrats are urging their party to drop the subject. "It's time to put this behind us and give Christie Whitman a chance to move the state forward," says Sharpe James, Newark's black Democratic mayor. Other Democrats worry that a serious probe into urban voting practices might permanently damage Democratic city machines.

While Rollins has certainly added to an already dangerous level of voter cynicism, the spotlight his remarks have shone on seldom-discussed electoral practices could also generate needed support for their reform. Last week, Rollins testified under oath that his claims to have paid black ministers not to endorse New Jersey Gov. James Florio from the pulpit were part of an elaborate "head game" to psych out his long-time rival James Carville, a strategist for President Clinton and Florio. New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley says politics "has degenerated to a point that you can get this kind of one-up- manship with political consultants," but he wants a probe to continue.

While it proceeds, the rest of us can ponder some lessons of the Rollins flap:

* There is a difference between get-out-the-vote efforts and discouraging people from voting. While "street-money" programs can become vehicles for paying people to vote, in theory they are similar to a basketball coach encouraging a team to shoot more baskets. But fans would look askance at a coach who tried to induce opposing players not to show up for the game.

Voter suppression isn't unknown in politics, but it's rare. In 1981, the GOP intimidated votes when it hired off-duty police officers to patrol against fraud at New Jersey polling places.