The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com .
Friday, October 28, 2011 - 3
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, October 28, 2011 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Chrysler closes in
on first full-year
profit since 2005
Chrysler is moving closer to its
first full-year profit since 2005
as customers buy more of its cars
and trucks at higher prices.
It's another sign that the once-
troubled carmaker is turning
around. Chrysler was the most-
improved brand in a recent reli-
ability survey from Consumer
Reports, moving up from the
bottom of the list because of new
and better products. It's also
reached a new labor agreement
that limits its costs. And it's rais-
ing its full-year profit forecast.
The company, now run by
Italy's Fiat SpA, said its fortunes
have improved because of rising
demand for its new or revamped
Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram
cars and trucks.
ST. PAUL, Minn.
Student loan plan
called abuse by
Rep. Bachmann
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -
Republican presidential can-
didate Michele Bachmann is
ripping a move by President
Barack Obama to ease student
loan debt as an "abuse of power"
that will give people incentive to
dodge debt.
Bachmann reacted yesterday
to a decision Obama announced
a day earlier to cap payments
for some college loan borrowers
and forgive payments for others
after 20 years. He used executive
authority to accelerate a law that
wasn't supposed to go into effect
until 2014.
The Minnesota congresswom-
an made her remarks during an
education forum put on by The
College Board and News Corp.
NEW YORK
European debt
crisis spikes Dow
Jones, S & P
An agreement to contain the
European debt crisis electrified
the stock market yesterday, driv-
ing the Dow Jones Industrial
average up nearly 340 points and
putting the Standard & Poor's
500 index on track for its best
month since 1974.
Investors were relieved after
European leaders crafted a deal
to slash Greece's debt load and
prevent the crisis there from
engulfing larger countries like
Italy. The package is aimed at
preventing another financial
disaster like the one that hap-
pened in September 2008 after
the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
But some analysts cautioned
that Europe's problems remained
unsolved.
"The market keeps on think-
ing that it's put Europe's prob-
lems to bed, but it's like putting a
three-year old to bed: You might
put it there but it won't stay
there," said David Kelly, chief
market strategist at J.P. Morgan
Funds.
TOPEKA, Kan.
New abortion law
prompts lawsuits
Attorneys for three doctors say
they'll challenge revised regula-
tions for abortion providers in
Kansas.
The attorneys said yesterday
that a legal challenge in federal
court is coming despite recent
changes meant to placate the
physicians, who've already per-
suaded a federal judge to block
the earlier version of the rules.
The New York-based Center
for Reproductive Rights says it
will sue. It represents Dr. Herbert
Hodes and his daughter, Dr. Traci
Nauser, who perform abortions at
their medical office in the Kansas
City suburb of Overland Park.
Later, Cheryl Pilate, an attor-
ney representing Dr. Ronald Yeo-
mans, said he'd also be involved.
Yeomans performs abortions at a
Kansas City, Kan., clinic.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Interest groups
pour millions into
judicial elections
KHAIL HAMRA/AP
An Egyptian security officer holds a gun as he guards prisoners released from Israeli jails, during a celebration
ceremony held upon their arrival to Egypt yesterday.
' e
Israel trades Egyptian
prisone-trs for U.S. citizen
25 Egyptians
swapped for
American-Israeli
Thursday in Jerusalem, Grapel
said Egyptian authorities "made
sure that I was fed well, respect-
ed me and made sure no one
harmed me in any way."
Grapel said he was held on
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel "trumped-up allegations." Isra-
said yesterday that it agreed to el's government, his family and
trade Egyptian prisoners for a friends insisted all along that
U.S.-Israeli citizen imprisoned Grapel was not a spy.
in Cairo on unsubstantiated Many Israelis scoffed at the
suspicions of spying to defuse a need for a deal to free a citizen
potential crisis between the two arrested by a friendly nation on
neighboring countries. what were widely believed to be
Israel's agreement to such falsified charges.
a swap highlights how brittle Israel Hasson, an Israeli law-
relations have become between maker dispatched to Israel to
the two since the fall of Egypt's escort Grapel from Egypt, said
longtime leader Hosni Mubarak, the Israeli government agreed
and that many on both sides to free prisoners to ease recent
want to preserve them. tensions.
Israel released 25 jailed Egyp- "This event could have devel-
tians, most of them smugglers, oped into a crisis and we don't
for the U.S.-born Ilan Grapel, think either country needs that,"
who was arrested in Cairo in Hasson told Israel Radio. "This
June and who previously served was not a prisoner exchange. This
in the Israeli military. was crisis prevention between
The freed Egyptian prisoners Israel, the U.S. and Egypt."
passed into Sinai through a land In 1979, Israel and Egypt
crossing from Israel. TV broad- signed a U.S.-brokered peace
casts showed some of the Egyp- treaty, the first between Israel
tian men kneeling to kiss the and an Arabstate. Relations have
asphalt after crossing through a , always been cool, but Mubarak
blue metal gate at the border. carefully upheld the accord.
At a news conference late Egypt's new military leaders
have vowed to do so as well, but
they have taken a tougher stance
on Israel and grown closer to
its enemy, the Hamas militant
group that rules Gaza - a tiny
coastal Palestinian territorythat
borders both countries.
Egypt's improved ties with
Hamas appear to have helped
secure a long-elusive prisoner
swap last week, in which Israel
agreed to trade more than 1,000
Palestinian prisoners for a single
Israeli soldier, Sgt. Gilad Schalit,
who was captured and held by
Hamas in Gaza for more than
five years.
But Grapel is no Schalit.
He was volunteering at a legal
aid group in Cairo when he was
arrested in early June on suspi-
cion of spying for Israel during the
grass roots revolt that overthrew
Mubarak. He was never charged.
Grapel made no secret of his
Israeli background, entered
Egypt under his real name and
his Facebook page had photos
of him in an Israeli military
uniform. Such openness about
his identity suggested he was
not a spy, and even in Egypt,
where hostility toward Israel
runs high, the arrest was wide-
ly ridiculed.
Spending on
elections threatens
judicial impartiality
WASHINGTON (AP) - Inter-
est groups pumped millions of dol-
lars into state judicial elections at
unprecedented levels around the
country inthe last election cycle, a
trend that threatens to undermine
the impartiality of judges, a report
issued yesterday said.
Political parties and advocacy
groups working independently
from the candidates are account-
ing for a greater share of spending
on judicial elections. Such inde-
pendent expenditures accounted
for $11.5 million, or nearly 30 pei-
cent, of the money spent in the
2009-2010 election cycle. That's
up more than 60 percent from the
2005-06 election cycle.
That growth helps explain the
nasty tone of some judicial elec-
tions.While candidates ran mostly
positive advertisements, interest
groups accounted for three out
of every four attack ads, said the
report, which was compiled by
three organizations, including the
Brennan Center for Justice at New
York University School of Law.
"The story of the 2009-10 elec-
tions, and their aftermath in state
legislatures in 2011, reveals a
coalescing national campaign that
seeks to intimidate America's state
judges into becoming accountable
to money and ideologies instead of
the constitution and the law," said
the report.
High-court candidates across
the U.S. spent $38.4 million dur-
ing the 2009-2010 election cycle.
Retention races in four states -
Illinois, Iowa, Alaska and Colo-
rado - cost nearly $4.9 million,
more than double the $2.2 million
for all retention elections nation-
wide for the entire decade.
The most expensive high-court
elections took place in Michigan,
Pennsylvania and Illinois, where
the courts were closely divided
along party lines.
The nation's costliest reten-
tion election in a quarter century
took place last year when Illinois
Chief Justice Thomas Kilbride
faced a simple up-or-down vote
to keep his seat. Business groups
sought his ouster after he helped
overturn a state law capping dam-
ages in medical malpractice cases.
Kilbride raised $2.8 million while
businessgroups drew $688,000 in
their campaign.
In Michigan, the state GOP
spent an estimated $4 million and
the Michigan Democratic Party
spent $1.6 million. The report
said the independent spending
dwarfed that of the candidates,
to the point that the candidates
"seemed like bystanders in their
own elections." The judicial elec-
tions in Michigan were the most
expensive in the country.
Perhaps the most abrupt
change took place in Iowa where
not a single penny was spent in
state high-court elections from
2000 to 2009. That changed when
the Iowa Supreme Court struck
down a state law banning same-
sex marriage. Nationalgroups, led
by the National Organization for
Marriage, spent nearly $1 million
to vote out three state justices try-
ing to retain their seats. A group
called Fair Courts for Us, led by
former governor Robert Ray,
also spent about $400,000 in an
unsuccessful bid to support the
incumbents.
The report described the
results of the Iowa election as
chilling because the campaign
was intended to send a warning to
judges in all states.
But Brian Brown, president
of the National Organization for
Marriage, said he believes talk of
intimidation by interest groups is
just incorrect. Rather, he said, that
the groups are putting their trust
in voters.
"Is it intimidation when some-
one saysto a politician you've gone
too far. I can't vote for you again?"
Brown said. "That's not intimida-
tion. That's democracy at work."
The report also noted that a
patchwork of disclosure laws
can leave the public in the doubt
about who funds the indepen-
dent expenditure efforts to elect
or remove judicial candidates.
In Iowa, the laws made it clear
who was supporting the effort
to remove three justices. But in
Michigan, the report said it was
impossible to confirm who bank-
rolled the two party's spending
in the judicial elections.
Amid criticism, Perry drops
out of upcomillg debates
Ohio gym teacher
convicted of having
sex with students
Gov. will not join
debate at Oakland
University
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Rick
Perry may skip some upcoming
GOP presidential debates, side-
stepping a campaign staple that
hasn't been kind to the Texas
governor in his first two months
on the national stage. It's a deci-
sion that ultimately could cause
other Republicans to bow out of
the more than half-dozen face-
offs scheduledbetween now and
the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3.
Perry does plan to participate
in a Nov. 9 debate at Oakland
University in Rochester, Mich.
- his sixth - but he hasn't com-
mitted to any others beyond
that as political advisers hunker
down to determine how best to
proceed. He's juggling fundrais-
ing and retail campaigning with
only two months before the first
votes in the Republican nomina-
tion fight are cast.
"We haven't said no, but
we're looking at each debate,"
campaign spokesman Mark
Miner said yesterday. "There are
numerous - 15, 16, 17 - debates,
and we're taking a look at each
one and we're makingthe appro-
priate consideration."
He said that "while debates
are part of the process, they're
just one part."
Former Massachusetts Gov.
Mitt Romney, considered the
Republican candidate to beat
because of his leads in national
polls, fundraising and organi-
zation, also has not committed
to debating beyond Michigan.
His campaign has made debate
commitments on a case-by-case
basis depending on how each fits
his schedule and strategy. For
instance, he skipped the leadoff
debate in South Carolina in June
when the GOP field was stillgell-
ing and few top-tier candidates
participated.
For Perry, who is not nearly as
well-known as Romney, there's
more to it than time manage-
ment.
As he reboots his fledgling
campaign, Perry clearly also is
trying to reintroduce himself
to the nation on his own terms.
After a couple of recent rocky
debate performances hurt his
poll standings, he's returning to
the play-it-safe strategy he suc-
cessfully employed in running
threetimesforgovernorofTexas.
The state's longest-serving
governor, he never has lost an
election and has debated his
rivals only when it couldn't be
avoided. Perry has long conced-
ed he's not a strong debater, and
he contends that his up-close
charisma and ability to take
a more personalized message
directly to voters is the key to
his success. His closest advisers
have built campaigns around
that approach and their candi-
date's ferocious campaign-trail
energy.
It's unclear whether this
approach will work in a nation-
al campaign, where debates
provide candidates new to the
national stage with a huge dose
of free media as they look to
make themselves better known
to primary voters. The stakes
are high. Do well, and you could
enjoy a burst of momentum as
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bach-
mann did over the summer. Do
poorly, andyou riskfallingout'of
favor as Perry can attest.
This year, the Republican pri-
mary debates have drawn large
audiences and have significantly
shaped the contours of the race.
Eight debates already have been
held, and nearly a dozen more
are scheduled before January's
end.
Media companies and state
Republican Party leaders sched-
ule them without the campaigns'
consent. It's up to the candidates
to decide whether they partici-
pate.
Perry has made his disdain for
the encounters clear.
"These debates are set up for
nothing more than to tear down
the candidate," he said Tuesday
on The O'Reilly Factor on Fox
News Channel. "So, you know, if
there was a mistake made, it was
probably ever doing one of the
(debates) when all they're inter-
ested in is stirring up between
the candidates instead of really
talking about the issues that
are important to the American
people."
Rival campaigns jumped on
Perry.
"You have to go to debates if
you want to succeed in the new
era," chided Steve Grubbs, chair-
man of Herman Cain's Iowa
campaign.
But Republican strategist
Ford O'Connell, a former aide
to John McCain's 2008 presi-
dential campaign, said Perry
must play to his strength, not his
weakness.
"During those debates, he
looks like the Washington Gen-
erals while Mitt Romney is the
Harlem Globetrotters scoring
all around him," O'Connell said.
Judge rejects
teacher's insanity
plea for having sex
with five students
LEBANON, Ohio (AP) - A
high school teacher was convict-
ed yesterday of having sex with
five students, some of them foot-
ball players, after an Ohio judge
rejected an insanity defense that
argued the teens took advantage
of her.
Stacy Schuler was sentenced to
a total of four years in prison for
the encounters with the Mason
High School students at her home
in Springboro in southwest Ohio
in2010. She can ask ajudge to free
her from prison after six months.
The 33-year-old Schuler, who
could have faced decades in pris-
on, cried as she was handcuffed
and led out of the courtroom.
The five'teens testified that
Schuler, a health and gym teach-
er, had been drinking alcohol at
the time of the encounters and
was a willing participant who ini-
tiated much of the contact. The
teens were about 17 at the time.
The age of consent in Ohio is 16,
but it's illegal for a teacher to have
sex with a student.
"This is a noble profession
that you have, and I've heard a
lot of good things about you, but
I know that you had the opportu-
nity, as all teachers do, to affect
the lives of our children," War-
ren County Common Pleas Judge
Robert Peeler said. "You crossed
a line."
Schuler's lawyers argued that
she had medical and psychologi-
cal issues and couldn't remember
the encounters.
Before sentencing Schuler on
16 counts of sexual battery and
three counts of providing alcohol
to a minor, the judge said it would
be a "magnificent leap" to believe
she didn't know her actions were
wrong.
Schuler didn't testify during
the four-day nonjury trial, and
she and her attorneys declined to
address the judge before he sen-
tenced her.
But parents of two of the teen
victims made tearful statements.
A father spoke of his son's
depression and lost motivation
and said the teen almost didn't
go to college. He asked the judge
to hand down a sentence to send
a message that Schuler's acts are
not acceptable and there are seri-
ousconsequences.
"it impacts the teaching com-
munity as a whole, how a single
teacher who made the wrong
decision multiple times overshad-
ows 99.9 percent of the teachers
that truly do care, not pretend
to care, about their students," he
said.
A mother said her son turned
to and trusted Schuler during an
extremely low period when his
father had cancer and related
health problems.
"These young men may appear
pas if they are tough guys, but in
reality, they are truly hurting,"
she said.
"She took advantage of their
vulnerability. She crossed the line
and it is unacceptable."