Over the last two years, Governor Whitman has had to deal with criticisms from black and Hispanic people on several occasions, including: when her campaign manager, Ed Rollins, said he had paid off black ministers to hold down voter turnout; when she did not denounce Howard Stern for remarks on his radio program, and most recently this week when a Hispanic organization complained about her administration's employment practices.

In the article, which appeared early this week in The Sunday Independent, the Governor was quoted as saying that she disagreed with members of her own party in Washington who would take welfare payments away from unwed teen-age mothers. She said the problems are cultural. "You're dealing with something much deeper than a mere piece of paper is going to solve," she said.

Mrs. Whitman then went on to talk about the "game," saying she was told about it by black parents she met in Newark two years ago while visiting a clinic for young children with AIDS. She also said pregnancies outside of wedlock pose problems for all segments of society and that she did not mean to imply that it affected only the African-American community. "But that game, as far as I know it, does not apply to any other group," she said.

Mrs. Whitman told reporters that the point she was trying to make is that it is useless to try to legislate morality in this area. "You have to do more," she said, "you have to help them understand the consequences of their actions. And that it is wrong to sire a child and walk away from that responsibility."

In his letter, Mr. Bryant, who is black, wrote: "A comment of this venomous character would not be unexpected from shock radio disk jockeys or hate-inspired talk show hosts. But it is beneath the dignity of the person holding the office of Governor of the State of New Jersey."