NEWS
The Michigan Daily. - Thursday, November 10, 2005 - 5A
1Cox admits affar
* n ball-sy move
LANSING (AP) - Attorney General Mike
Cox acknowledged yesterday having an affair a
number of years ago and accused an associate
of trial lawyer Geoffrey Fieger of threatening
to expose the indiscretion.
Fieger, who won the 1998 Democratic nomi-
nation for governor after becoming famous as
the attorney for assisted suicide advocate Jack
Kevorkian, has said he wants to challenge Cox,
a Republican, in the 2006 attorney general
election.
Cox said he came clean publicly because a
Fieger associate threatened to expose the affair
if Cox didn't stop investigating Fieger. Fieger
said the person Cox is accusing is not an asso-
ciate of his.
Cox said he told his wife Laura about the
affair on March 22, 2003. The couple went
to counseling and attended a church pro-
gram, and the affair is now "old news" in
his family, he said.
"What I did was inexcusable," Cox said in
prepared comments. "I am completely respon-
sible for what happened - it was entirely my
fault."
Since March, Cox's office has been inves-
tigating a $450,000 television ad campaign
that urged viewers to "vote no" against Justice
Stephen Markman in last year's state Supreme
Court race. Markman easily won re-election.
But it was not until June - seven months after
the election - that Fieger, a multimillionaire,
filed papers in Oakland County acknowledging
he paid for the anti-Markman ads.
Fieger said Cox's allegations yesterday were
"amazingly sick."
"Something sounds absolutely insane
about what's going on here," Fieger told The
Associated Press in a telephone interview.
"How could the attorney general have so
many skeletons in his closet that he could be
blackmailed? Why is he subjecting his wife
to this humiliation?"
Cox said a lawyer named Lee O'Brien con-
tacted his office Oct. 14. O'Brien told a Cox
staff member that "Fieger wants me to deliver a
threat to your boss," according to Cox.
A message seeking comment was left on
O'Brien's cell phone yesterday afternoon.
Cox said he contacted the Oakland County
sheriff and prosecutor, who monitored meet-
ings between O'Brien and his staff member
in which O'Brien said Fieger wouldn't do any-
thing if the campaign finance investigation
went away. One meeting involved Fieger him-
self, Cox said.
"They thought I would cower," Cox said.
"They thought that my wife did not know nor
did they count on my resolve to do my job at
any cost. And they did not count on my wife's
resolve that justice be done even if it means
personal embarrassment."
Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca
said Cox contacted him about the case roughly
a month ago.
Law enforcement officials turned in material
related to their investigation this week, Gorcyca
said, and his office is reviewing the material to
determine if extortion or obstruction of justice
charges are warranted.
FRANKEL
Continued from page IA
Moore said she believes Jewish studies are cut-
ting across borders and expanding in new direction.
As she discovered on a recent trip to China, "Jewish
scholarship is seen as enlightening to people other
than Jews."
"Judaic studies belongs to all who are interested
and willing to learn," Moore added.
The center hopes to create an interchange of ideas
between members within the institute and the general
University community.
"The way this center is going to educate the aca-
demic community and itself is as important as the
academic output," said University Hebrew lecturer
Doron Lamm.
History and German Prof. Scott Spector said he
believes the new institute will have a positive affect on
people who have not been involved directly in Judaic
studies and has the power to open up Judaic studies to
people in other fields. "This is a very significant event,
and the center is already one of the most important
centers in the world," said Spector, "I hope the people
will see how this benefits the general community."
Yesterday's inaugural event also served as a wel-
come to the new director of the institute, Anita Norich.
Norich is an English professor at the University, as
well as a Yiddish literature scholar.
VOTE
Continued from page IA
done," Benton an LSA senior said.
In contrast to Voice Your Vote, Members
of the College Democrats said they regis-
tered 210 students to vote in this year's Ann
Arbor election - 149 on the Diag and about
60 from other places around the campus.
About 20 members from College Democrats
worked over a period of two weeks to get
these students registered.
"(Voice Your Vote) hung one sign outside
the Union to encourage students to come to
MSA to register. I never really saw Voice
Your Vote," Benton said.
But Meghan McDermott, co-chair of Voice
Your Vote, said the commission was working
in collaboration with the College Democrats,
although the College Democrats say no such
cooperation was ever formalized between
the groups.
McDermott said she had communicated
with the College Democrats earlier in the
school year and that the groups had agreed
that the College Democrats would relieve
Voice Your Vote from the duty of canvassing
the Diag for voter registration.
"We decided that since Voice Your Vote
is so small, we would concentrate on get-
ting into the dorms, and focus on getting
new students ready to vote in Ann Arbor,"
McDermott said. This year Voice your Vote
has about 5 to 7 members.
Schopfer added that members of the com-
mission worked with College Democrats at
tables on the Diag.
But Jamie Ruth, vice chair of College
Democrats, said Voice Your Vote members
never showed up to the Diag event, nor would
it be appropriate for Voice your Vote to have
participated.
"As the College Democrats, it's impossible
for us to do nonpartisan registration," he said.
"We made it clear that we were the College
Democrats while we were registering. Our
effort was not the sort of thing Voice Your
Vote would get involved with."
"I don't think the College Republicans
would be very happy if MSA funds were going
to staff a College Dems table," Benton said.
Although Voice Your Vote canvassed
in two dormitories, South Quadrangle and
Mary Markley residence halls, and regis-
tered 50 students to vote in South Quad, and
about 30 in Mary Markley, only 22 ballots
were cast in South Quad, and only 15 were
cast in Markley.
ETHICS
Continued from page 1A
every department would be unpopular with
faculty, but it would institutionalize the teach-
ing of professional morals to students in their
respective fields.
But he added that in lieu of required classes
he thought an ethical slant to existing classes,
would be the next-best thing.
"Something is better than nothing," Greens-
pan said. "With the proviso that we don't turn
ethics into something that we just do on Sun-
day, like church."
Chamberlin said whatever lasting effects the
initiative has will depend on the attitude of the
faculty and other administrators.
But he added that Duke has implemented
a successful ethics program that included
required courses.
"Here no one wants to go near (a new
requirement), so in parens I don't support it,"
Chamberlin said. "We're not going to be able
to reorganize the University to make this thing
happen. We have to work with the university
we've got."
I