VOL. CLXV . . . No. 57,162 + © 2016 The New York Times NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2016

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By JONATHAN MAHLER

AUSTIN, Tex. — From its startin 1999, the office of the solicitorgeneral of Texas was run by aplain-spoken Mormon, a by-the-books lawyer known for mentor-ing young attorneys and defend-ing the state, whatever the politi-cal consequences.

The young lawyers loved him.The state’s legal communityhailed him as a man of dignityand integrity. And the office sel-dom showed up in the headlines.

But everything changed in Jan-uary 2003, when Ted Cruz tookover.

Within months of his appoint-ment to the job, Mr. Cruz, then 31,set about transforming this un-der-the-radar, apolitical officeinto an aggressively ideological,attention-grabbing one. From anondescript government buildingin the shadow of the Capitol, heinserted himself into scores of po-litically charged cases around thecountry, bombarding the UnitedStates Supreme Court with ami-cus briefs on hot-button issueslike abortion and gun control.

His focus on gaining attentionclashed with the sensibilities ofmany of the lawyers who workedfor him and were accustomed to amore scrupulous and less publici-ty-minded approach. Before theend of his first year, half of theeight attorneys working in the of-fice had left, raising concern in-side the attorney general’s officeabout whether Mr. Cruz was the

Cruz Adopted

Activist Vision

As State Lawyer

Continued on Page A12

By AMY CHOZICK

In an election year defined byangry populism, Hillary Clintonmade an optimistic economicpitch on Friday, presenting awide-ranging plan for job growththat would provide incentives forcorporations that invest in em-ployees and strip tax benefitsfrom companies that move jobsoverseas.

Speaking at an auto parts man-ufacturer in Detroit, days beforeMichigan holds its Democraticprimary, Mrs. Clinton proposed a“new bargain for the new econ-omy” that would bring back man-ufacturing jobs and increase col-lective bargaining rights.

She unveiled her economic pro-posal as two other presidentialcandidates, Senator Bernie Sand-ers and Donald J. Trump, de-scended on the state as the cam-paign entered a new phase, mov-ing to the industrial heartland ofthe country, where both men arehoping their anti-free trade mes-sage resonates.

A new “clawback” proposalshe unveiled would rescind taxrelief and other benefits for com-panies that move jobs overseas.This is the latest revision to thecorporate tax code Mrs. Clintonhas proposed in an effort to cre-ate jobs and lift wages, whichhave been virtually stagnant for15 years even as the costs of col-lege, child care, housing andhealth care have soared.

She also reiterated her plan to

Clinton Offers

Economic Plan

Focused on Jobs

Continued on Page A13

This article is by Michael Bar-baro, Ashley Parker and Jona-than Martin.

From Michigan to Louisiana toCalifornia on Friday, rank-and-file Republicans expressed mys-tification, dismissal and con-tempt regarding the instructionsthat their party’s most high-pro-file leaders were urgently hand-ing down to them: Reject and de-feat Donald J. Trump.

Their angry reactions, in the 24hours since Mitt Romney andJohn McCain urged millions ofvoters to cooperate in a grandstrategy to undermine Mr.Trump’s candidacy, have cap-tured the seemingly inexorableforce of a movement that stillpuzzles the Republican elite andnow threatens to unravel the par-ty they hold dear.

In interviews, even lifelong Re-publicans who cast a ballot forMr. Romney four years ago re-belled against his message andplan. “I personally am disgustedby it — I think it’s disgraceful,”said Lola Butler, 71, a retiree fromMandeville, La., who voted forMr. Romney in 2012. “You’re tell-ing me who to vote for and whonot to vote for? Please.”

“There’s nothing short ofTrump shooting my daughter inthe street and my grandchildren— there is nothing and nobodythat’s going to dissuade me fromvoting for Trump,” Ms. Butlersaid.

A fellow Louisiana Republican,Mindy Nettles, 33, accused theparty of “using Romney as a pup-pet” to protect itself from Mr.Trump because its leaders couldnot control him. “He has a mindof his own,” she said. “He canthink.”

The furious campaign now un-derway to stop Mr. Trump andthe equally forceful rebellionagainst it captured the essence of

the party’s breakdown over thepast several weeks: Its mostprominent guardians, misunder-standing their own voters, antag-onize them as they try to reasonwith them, driving them evenmore energetically to Mr.Trump’s side.

As Mr. Romney amplified hispleas on Friday, Mr. Trumpsnubbed a major meeting of Re-publican activists and leaders af-ter rumblings that protesterswere prepared to demonstrateagainst him there, in the latestsign of Mr. Trump’s break fromthe apparatus of the party whosenomination he is marching to-ward.

As polls showed Mr. Trumplikely to capture the Louisianaprimary on Saturday, the biggestprize among states holding con-tests this weekend, the party es-tablishment in Washingtonseemed seized by anxiety and de-spair. At the Conservative Politi-cal Action Conference, a long-running gathering of traditionalconservatives, attendees fearedthat they were witnessing an

G.O.P. Pleas Draw Anger

From Trump Supporters

Spurning Appeals by Romney and Others,

They Vow to Stand by Their Man

Continued on Page A13

GEORGE ETHEREDGE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

TRUMP COUNTRY Support isfound in places like BuchananCounty, Va. Page A14.

By MOTOKO RICH

OAKLAND, Calif. — The 70teachers who showed up to aschool board meeting here re-cently in matching green andblack T-shirts paraded in a circle,chanting, “Charter schools arenot public schools!” and accusingthe superintendent of doing thebidding of “a corporate oligar-chy.”

The superintendent, Antwan

Wilson, who is an imposing6-foot-4, favors crisp suits andKangol caps and peers intenselythrough wire-rimmed glasses,has become accustomed to con-frontation since he arrived in thisactivist community from Denvertwo years ago. One board meet-ing last fall reached such a feverpitch that police officers movedin to control the crowd.

Mr. Wilson is facing a rebellionby teachers and some parentsagainst his plan to allow families

to use a single form to apply toany of the city’s 86 district-runschools or 44 charter campuses,all of which are competing for ashrinking number of students.

How he fares may say a greatdeal not only about Oakland, butalso about this moment in thedrive to transform urban schooldistricts. Many of them have be-come rivalrous amalgams of tra-ditional public schools and char-ters, which are publicly fundedbut privately operated and have

been promoted by education phi-lanthropists.

Mr. Wilson is trying to bringthe traditional schools into closercoordination with the charters.“If he gets it right, it’s a model formoving past the polarized senseof reform that we have rightnow,” said Robert C. Pianta, deanof the Curry School of Educationat the University of Virginia.

But Mr. Wilson has emerged as

Oakland Is Flash Point in Billionaire’s Push for Charter Schools

Continued on Page A15

SARAH C. OGDEN/JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE

The death of neural progenitor cells, in red, when exposed to the Zika virus, in green. The view isfrom one of two new studies that strengthen the link between Zika and birth defects. Page A7.

A Chilling Finding on Zika

TYLER HICKS/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Refugees at the Minawao camp in Cameroon’s Far North. The region is experiencing a food crisis because of raids by militants.

By DIONNE SEARCEY

MORA, Cameroon — At first,the attack had all the hallmarksof a typical Boko Haram assault.Armed fighters stormed a townon the border with Nigeria,shooting every man they saw.

But this time, instead of burn-ing homes and abducting hos-tages, the fighters gathered cows,goats and any kind of food theycould round up, then fled with itall.

Boko Haram, the Islamist ex-tremist group terrorizing thispart of the world, is on the hunt —for food.

After rampaging across the re-gion for years, forcing more thantwo million people to flee theirhomes and farms, Boko Haramappears to be falling victim to amajor food crisis of its own cre-ation.

Farmers have fled, leaving be-hind fallow fields. Herdsmenhave rerouted cattle drives toavoid the violence. Throughoutthe region, entire villages haveemptied, leaving a string of ghosttowns with few people for BokoHaram to dominate — and littlefor the group to plunder.

“They need food. They need toeat,” Midjiyawa Bakari, the gov-ernor of the Far North region ofCameroon, said of Boko Haram.“They’re stealing everything.”

Across parts of northeasternNigeria and border regions likethe Far North, trade has come toa halt and tens of thousands ofpeople are on the brink of famine,United Nations officials say. Mar-kets have shut down becausevendors have nothing to sell, andeven if they did, many buyershave been scared off by the sui-cide bombers Boko Haram sends

Boko HaramFaces a CrisisThat It Sowed

Continued on Page A6

The Republican debate on FoxNews on Thursday night was anargument over whose was big-ger. Whose lies. Whose poll num-bers. Whose ... wherever.

A gobsmackingday of intrapartypie-throwing end-ed with Donald J.Trump, from thestage of the FoxTheater in Detroit,

assuring the American publicthat the size of his male appen-dage was just fine. “I guaranteeyou,” he said, “there’s no prob-lem.”

There was a time when I mighthave been stunned. There was atime when Mr. Trump kept his

anatomical allusions to post-de-bate interviews, when he re-ferred to the moderator MegynKelly — who was tough on him athis last debate on Fox, in August— as having “blood coming out ofher wherever.”

I might have been shocked,once, at this whole debate — thehooting audience, the barkingcandidates, the NSFW content —but those days are over. The

memory is already fading. This isour life now.

Mr. Trump did not lead this na-tional descent into his pantsalone. He was responding to anattack by Marco Rubio, who hadmade a tactical detour into insultcomedy. Mr. Rubio, Mr. Trumpsaid, accused him of having smallhands and thus implied that“something else must be small.”

Of course, no one made Mr.Trump bring up any part of hisbody. That he did so on his ownpoints out a key part of his mes-sage: bigness.

The prime imperative of Mr.Trump is that he not be madesmall. He must be yuge! Hencehis anatomical defense. Hence

New Normal: A Political Descent Below the Belt

Continued on Page A14

JAMESPONIEWOZIK

CRITIC’SNOTEBOOK

Republicans’ Debate

About Size Belittles

the Debaters

Two studies suggestthat allergies mightbe prevented byfeeding peanuts toinfants during theirfirst year, a chal-lenge to advice on anearly diet of onlybreast milk. PAGE A3

INTERNATIONAL A3-9

Another Strategy on Allergies

The scandal surrounding Brazil’s na-tional oil company has now touched thecountry’s most prominent political fig-ure, former President Luiz Inácio Lulada Silva, who was questioned. PAGE A4

Brazil’s Graft Scandal Spreads

Darcel D. Clark, the new Bronx districtattorney, plans to triple the staffing oncases from the jail complex. PAGE A18

NEW YORK A18-19, 21

Prosecutor Focuses on Rikers

The Labor Department said employersadded 242,000 workers last month, solidgains that highlight a strengthening la-bor market. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-8

Hiring Was Brisk in February Three more federaljudges, including SriSrinivasan, are saidto be undergoing vet-ting for nominationto the SupremeCourt, all with somepalatability to Re-publicans. PAGE A11

NATIONAL A10-16

More Names Emerge for Court

The murder trial of O.J. Simpson, andthe public obsession with it, came backin full force with word that the policewere testing a knife supposedly found athis former home. PAGE A10

Simpson Case Still Stirs Frenzy

Bud Collins, 86, the flamboyant face oftennis for nearly half a century as ajournalist, broadcaster and sports histo-rian, helped popularize the sport for mil-lions of Americans. PAGE D8

OBITUARIES D7-8

Tennis’s Flashy Commentator

Timothy Egan PAGE A23

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

THIS WEEKEND

The government’s target growth rangeof 6.5 percent to 7 percent acknowledgesa worsening slowdown. PAGE B1

ChinaAltersGrowth Target

Pat Conroy, 70, mined the people, placesand emotional trauma of his childhoodin the Lowcountry of South Carolina forpopular novels like “The Great Santini”and “The Prince of Tides.” PAGE D7

‘Great Santini’ Author

C M Y K Nxxx,2016-03-05,A,001,Bs-BK,E2_+