October 20, 1993

Gov. Jim Florio's standing with the voters has begun to erode in New Jersey's race for governor, according to the latest New York Times/WCBS-TV News poll, but he still maintains a commanding lead over Christine Todd Whitman. With less than two weeks to go before the Nov. 2 election, the poll shows Governor Florio leading Mrs. Whitman 49 to 34 percent among registered voters, a lead that is wider still among those who said they will definitely vote. But his performance rating has slipped, his trust rating has slipped and so has his reputation for honesty and integrity. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents think their taxes would go up if he is re-elected.

In a head-on collision between the family values of today's sensitive man and the macho work ethic of pro football, a citywide furor unfolded over the Houston Oilers' threat to discipline a player who missed a game last Sunday because he stayed with his wife for the birth of their first child the previous evening. Callers jammed radio talk shows here to vent their views about the team's contention that David Williams, the starting offensive right tackle, should have tried harder to join the club for its game against the New England Patriots in Foxboro, Mass. The vast majority of callers supported Williams, and the Oilers, apparently sensing a public-relations disaster in the making, had appeared today to be backing off their threat to dock Williams $125,000 and possibly suspend him for missing the game. But tonight, the team announced that it was withholding Williams's pay for the game. It did not make reference to any further disciplinary action.

Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato ended his public flirtation with a 1994 gubernatorial race, leaving the Republican primary to lesser-known contenders.

Even before he won his first election, people knew Thomas S. Gulotta was destined to play a major role in Nassau County politics. In the royalty of Nassau's Republican Party, which has long run the county government virtually unchallenged, he was clearly a prince. His father, Frank, was the first Italian-American to rise through the ranks and win countywide office, first District Attorney and then Supreme Court judge.

New York State's Court of Appeals ordered New York City yesterday to let voters on Election Day decide whether to limit the mayor, members of the City Council and other municipal officeholders to two consecutive four-year terms. The ruling was a defeat for the city's political establishment, led by Mayor David N. Dinkins and the City Council Speaker, Peter F. Vallone. They had been fighting for months to keep the term-limit referendum off the ballot through administrative and legal measures.