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VOL. CLXV ... No. 57,041 © 2015 The New York Times NEW YORK, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015 Late Edition Today, cloudy, an afternoon shower, warm, high of 70. Tonight, cloudy, an evening shower, warm, low of 63. Tomorrow, cloudy, warm, high of 75. Weather map is on Page A20. $2.50 U(D54G1D)y+[!,!&!#!\ MAURICIO LIMA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Another overcrowded boat of refugees reached Lesbos, Greece, on Tuesday. The flood of migrants has not waned. Page A8. When Icy Seas Seem Safer Than Life at Home By ELISABETH MALKIN and AZAM AHMED The Mexican Supreme Court opened the door to legalizing ma- rijuana on Wednesday, delivering a pointed challenge to the na- tion’s strict substance abuse laws and adding its weight to the growing debate in Latin America over the costs and consequences of the war against drugs. The vote by the court’s crimi- nal chamber declared that indi- viduals should have the right to grow and distribute marijuana for their personal use. While the ruling does not strike down cur- rent drug laws, it lays the groundwork for a wave of legal actions that could ultimately re- write them, proponents of legal- ization say. The decision reflects a chang- ing dynamic in Mexico, where for decades the American-backed antidrug campaign has produced much upheaval but few lasting victories. Today, the flow of drugs to the United States continues, along with the political corrup- tion it fuels in Mexico. The coun- try, dispirited by the ceaseless campaign against traffickers, re- mains engulfed in violence. “It’s the drama behind all of our efforts,” said Juan Francisco Torres Landa, a corporate lawyer who was one of the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case. The marijuana case has ignited a debate about the effectiveness of imprisoning drug users in a country with some of the most conservative drug laws in Latin America. But across the region, a growing number of voices are questioning Washington’s strat- egy in the drug war. With little to show for tough-on-crime policies, the balance appears to be slowly shifting toward other approach- es. Uruguay enacted a law in 2013 to legalize marijuana, though the creation of a legal marijuana in- dustry in the small country has unfolded slowly. Chile gathered its first harvest of medical mari- juana this year. In Brazil, the Su- preme Court recently debated the decriminalization of marijua- na, cocaine and other drugs. And Bolivia allows traditional uses of coca, the plant used to make co- caine. Many leaders in Latin America have called for a shift in policy, including President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia. In May, his RULING IN MEXICO SETS INTO MOTION LEGAL MARIJUANA DISSENSION IN DRUG WAR Decision Adds Weight to a Growing Debate in Latin America Continued on Page A12 By MICHAEL BARBARO and STEVE EDER A decade after he began using a Republican Party credit card for personal purchases like pav- ing stones at his home, Senator Marco Rubio on Wednesday pledged to disclose new spending records from that account as he sought to inoculate himself against what could be his biggest liability as a presidential candi- date: how he manages his fi- nances. The decision to release the records highlights the enduring potency of a controversy rooted in Mr. Rubio’s days as a young state representative in Florida that he and his aides thought had been put to rest with his 2010 election to the Senate. His use of the card for a family reunion, flights and groceries was a recurring issue in that campaign. But as his presidential cam- paign experiences a surge in the polls, Mr. Rubio’s rivals are rush- ing to resurrect the matter in an attempt to portray him as a care- less manager of money, despite Mr. Rubio’s assurances that he paid for every personal purchase himself. A “super PAC” supporting Hil- Continued on Page A19 Rubio Seeks to Tamp Down Scrutiny of Finances By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA The shooting death of a police lieutenant made national news and brought a stretch of northern Illinois to a tense standstill with roadblocks, thudding helicopters and officers tramping with dogs through woods and over farm- land, searching for the killers. The lieutenant, Charles J. Gli- niewicz, was hailed as a hero, and some conservatives seized on this and other shootings as evi- dence that critics of the police were fueling a wave of violence against law enforcement. But on Wednesday, more than two months after Lieutenant Gli- niewicz was found dead in Fox Lake, a small town northwest of Chicago, law enforcement offi- cials said the truth was some- thing very different: He took his own life. Still more surprising was the explanation they offered. They said that Lieutenant Gliniewicz, 52, a local fixture admired for his work with young people, had been stealing money from the town for years and feared he was about to be caught. There is “an overwhelming amount of evidence that Gliniew- icz’s death was a carefully staged suicide,” Commander George Filenko of the Lake County Major Crime Task Force said at a news conference. He said that a review of tens of thousands of emails, text messages and phone calls, along with bank records, showed Officer’s Death Stuns Illinois Town a 2nd Time JOSHUA LOTT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES A memorial for Lt. Charles J. Gliniewicz in September. Officials said he embezzled for years. Continued on Page A16 Not Murder, but Suicide After Years of Theft, Police Say By STEPHEN CASTLE LONDON — The British gov- ernment on Wednesday suspend- ed flights to the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh over concerns that a chartered Russian jetliner might have been brought down in the Sinai Peninsula by a bomb on board. The announcement by Prime Minister David Cameron halting flights was the strongest action so far by any government official to suggest that the plane, which crashed within a half-hour of de- parting Sharm el Sheikh on Sat- urday, killing all 224 people on board, was brought down by an act of terrorism. A European official briefed on the investigation said an initial inspection of the flight data re- corder recovered from the plane indicated that the recording ceased abruptly, evidence that would support the theory of a midair explosion. American military officials said Tuesday that satellite surveil- lance had detected a flash of light just as the jet broke apart, in- dicating it had blown up, because of a bomb, an accidental explo- sion of fuel or a catastrophic me- chanical failure. But American defense, intelli- Britain Halts Sinai Flights, Fearing Bomb Continued on Page A14 By THOMAS KAPLAN On a wintry Sunday in Febru- ary, Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York huddled at Gracie Mansion with a trusted adviser, John Del Cecato, to polish his marquee speech of 2015, the annual State of the City address. In the days before the address, Mr. de Blasio and Mr. Del Cecato would spend hours together, meeting at City Hall and Gracie Mansion. Those sessions, accord- ing to the mayor’s schedules, were among roughly 60 they shared in the first 17 months of his administration. Mr. Del Cecato is not on Mr. de Blasio’s staff — at least not offi- cially. He is one of several politi- cal consultants advising the Democratic mayor whose firms have been paid using money con- tributed by private donors. These consultants helped guide Mr. de Blasio’s campaign for mayor in 2013, and they have remained at his side as a kind of privately funded brain trust, of- fering strategic advice and help- ing to shape the message that comes from City Hall. Their in- volvement also poses conflict-of- interest concerns, as some of the consultants’ firms have clients that do business with the city. For their place in the mayor’s orbit, these consultants have been well compensated: In the first year and a half of his term, their firms have collected nearly $2.3 million in payments. Most of the money has come from a non- profit organization, the Cam- paign for One New York, that was created by political professionals from his mayoral campaign as a vehicle to push his initiatives, and whose donors have included real estate developers and un- ions. Through the middle of this year, 77 percent of the group’s spending went to several consult- ing firms that also worked for Mr. de Blasio’s 2013 campaign. The mayor’s reliance on pri- vate consultants seems to run contrary to the image he has cul- tivated. As mayor, he has crit- icized the role that the “consult- ant class” played in politics; in his previous elective office, as the city’s public advocate, he as- sailed the influence of political donors hiding behind “political committees that masquerade as tax-exempt nonprofits.” Yet a review by The New York Continued on Page A22 HIRED GUNS HELP DE BLASIO SHAPE CITY’S MESSAGE CONSULTANTS HOLD SWAY Fees Paid With Private Money — Potential Conflicts Seen By BENJAMIN WEISER and SUSANNE CRAIG In New York’s ornate Capitol building in Albany, a plan two years in the making was taking root. Everyone would benefit: Victims of mesothelioma, a rare but deadly form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos, would be sent to a reputable law firm; the firm would pick up new cli- ents; and a well-regarded cancer research clinic would receive funds. And at the center of all this was Sheldon Silver, then the State As- sembly speaker, prosecutors say. The alleged arrangement, which has become the heart of the corruption case against Mr. Silver, came into focus at his trial on Wednesday, as Dr. Robert N. Taub of Columbia University tes- tified in federal court in Manhat- tan as a government witness. Prosecutors charge that Mr. Sil- ver, a Democrat from the Lower East Side, traded official actions for $3 million in an illegal kick- back scheme. Dr. Taub, who testified under a nonprosecution agreement, ran a clinic at Columbia dedicated to mesothelioma research. The clin- ic long relied on government grants, wealthy donors and even Doctor at Silver’s Trial Tells of Favors Traded Continued on Page A25 Ending nearly a decade of dominance by Canada’s Conservative Party, Justin Trudeau of the Liberal Party, above with his son Hadrien and his mother, Marga- ret, was sworn in as prime minister, an office once held by his father. PAGE A10 INTERNATIONAL A4-14 Canada Swears In New Leader Airbnb, fresh off an election victory in San Francisco, is working to organize voting blocs of home-sharers in the cit- ies where it operates. PAGE B1 BUSINESS DAY B1-11 Airbnb Flexes Political Muscle The architect Jeanne Gang’s design, be- low, for the American Museum of Natu- ral History’s addition evokes Frank Geh- ry’s Bilbao museum and fills in some open space on the grounds. PAGE C1 ARTS C1-8 Museum Expansion Unveiled After taking his team to the World Se- ries, Terry Collins won a two-year con- tract extension. PAGE B13 SPORTSTHURSDAY B13-17 Mets’ Manager Is Rewarded Dianne Feinstein PAGE A27 EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27 A persistent water leak is among prob- lems that have prevented the Westfield World Trade Center mall, a luxury com- plex, from opening in time for the holi- day season. Building Blocks. PAGE A21 NEW YORK A21-25 Setback at Transit Hub Opponents of an anti-discrimination measure in Houston found success by reframing the issue as a fight over bath- room safety. PAGE A17 NATIONAL A15-19 Houston Law Undone by Fears The elder ex-president, in a biography, says Dick Cheney and Donald H. Rums- feld served his son poorly. PAGE A19 Bush Critical of Son’s Aides The auction house barely exceeded its low estimate in a sale of “Masterworks” pieces collected by the former chairman A. Alfred Taubman. PAGE A23 Lackluster Night at Sotheby’s
