Chuck Turner Wants Support from Pres. Obama and U.S. Attorney General?

File this under small time Crooks and liars.

The Boston Hearld is reporting that a newly fired-up Chuck Turner lashed out against “corrupt” prosecutors yesterday, calling on President Obama to come to his rescue and drop all bribery charges against him.

In a statement, Turner called on Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to “drop the fraudulent charges in my case.”

Teaming up with former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Turner also plans to crusade against what he called “eight years of corrupt practices of President Bush’s Department of Injustice.” Mote HERE

Ok, this is something I'm just not getting. Now City Councilor Chuck Turner of Boston who was caught red handed (above) on tape taking money in a pay to play scheme, is involved in what the Bay State Banner calls, "the latest salvo in the dramatic effort to rescue his reputation." Get this folks, as reported by the Bay State Banner, (Boston's Historically black newspaper) on Monday of this week, Turner has now attempted to tie his prosecution to what he termed "the judicial atrocities of the Bush administration" and asking his supporters to petition President Barack Obama to drop the federal charges against him. More HERE

Rewind: November 2008

As you may remember, I wrote about this situation back in November of 2008, when I reported that he was Caught On Tape and Arrested.

First it was, Massachusetts State Senator Diane Wilkerson "BUSTED" by FBI

This time again in Boston. Get this Chuck Turner, a Boston City Councilman, whom this AAPP has known for years is caught taking silly $1,000 dollar from federal agents. Damn, this brotha is going down for a $1,000 ??? silly man. I guess he will be going to Federal prison for taking a silly bribe instead of just doing his work. He gets paid enough as a city councilman, why is he disgracing himself and black folks like this? Now I understand why he defended Diane Wilkerson, who got caught on tape by the FBI as well. He has turned out to be just like her, a two-bit crook, who attacked Latino Leadership in Boston to cover himself and Dianne Wilkerson. I feel sorry for my old home of Roxbury, Massachusettts, as they come to grips with the fact that black leadership in Boston has Sold them out, If I lived in Boston I would run for his seat. as I said about a month ago, Diane Wilkerson and old Black Political Leaders in Boston are out of touch and corrupt.

As reported by the Boston Globe The FBI arrested Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner this morning on charges he accepted a $1,000 bribe and then lied about taking the money in a widening federal corruption probe.

Chuck Turner

A 12-page affidavit filed this morning in US District Court alleges that Turner was surreptitiously videotaped accepting the cash in his district office on Aug. 3, 2007, in exchange for pushing for a liquor license of the Roxbury nightclub Dejavu. Included with the affidavit are two photographs of Turner allegedly accepting the bribe. In one image, Turner's trademark white goatee is clearly visible as folded green bills are pressed into his hand.

Turner was arrested at 7 a.m. at City Hall on charges stemming from the undercover probe, which lead to the arrest on Oct. 28 of state Senator Dianne Wilkerson on allegations she accepted eight bribes worth $23,500. The day of Wilkerson's arrest, two FBI agents visited Turner at his City Hall office and he "repeatedly denied ever being offered the money," according to the affidavit. During the interview, however, Turner rued the pervasiveness of corruption among politicians.

"If you took out all the corrupt politicians, you take out 90 % and be left with us 10 %," Turner said, according to the affidavit.

The five-term city councilor is expected to make his initial appearance today in US District Court in Worcester before Magistrate Judge Timothy Hillman, who is handling Wilkerson's case. Turner's alleged crimes took place in Boston, but Hillman ordinarily sits in Worcester.

“The public deserves, and should expect, honest services from our public officials,” US Attorney Michael Sullivan said in a statement. “Public officials who line their pockets with cash while claiming to act in the public interest, violate our laws and the trust and confidence of the public we serve." More HERE

Photo by Ted Fitzgerald (File), FBI

As Reported by the Boston Hearld, City council President Maureen Feeney temporarily removed Turner from all committee assignments, including his chairmanship of the committees on Education and Human Rights, according to a statement from her office today.

She called for a special meeting of the City Council for 3 p.m. Monday to discuss further council action.

"These charges are disturbing and shake an already fragile public trust in elected leaders," she said.

"If these charges prove true, I will not let the actions of one member cast a dark cloud over this entire body," she continued.

Feeney said she was "outraged at the recent disgrace brought to public service." More HERE

H/T BlogTalkRadio Host/and activist, Seventies Soul Child for the link.

Fast Foward

Now as reported by St. John Barned-Smith at the Bay State Banner, City Councilor Chuck Turner fired off the latest salvo in the dramatic effort to rescue his reputation on Monday, tying his prosecution to what he termed “the judicial atrocities of the Bush administration” and asking his supporters to petition President Barack Obama to drop the federal charges against him.

“We move beyond the first phase of my Campaign for Truth, Light and Justice by focusing national and international attention not just on my arrest and indictment but also on the eight years of corrupt practices of President Bush’s Department of Injustice,” Turner wrote in an e-mail to supporters.

In the e-mail, sent just after 8 a.m. on Monday, the District 7 city councilor called for the president and newly confirmed U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to drop the “fraudulent” charges of bribery and conspiracy that have been filed against him and to examine whether the investigation against him had racial or political motivations.

Turner also asked supporters to sign an online petition created by the activist International Action Center, founded by former U.S. Attorney General and Turner supporter Ramsey Clark. Addressed to Obama and Holder, the petition requests that in addition to Turner’s own case, the attorney general also review the cases of all public officials tried during the Bush administration “to determine which ones should have new trials because of political and/or racial motivation.” The petition also asks Holder to “initiate legal action against those [state] Attorney Generals who set up politically and/or racially motivated indictments and prosecutions.”

In addition to Obama and Holder, electronic carbon copies of the petition are apparently being sent to a wide variety of parties, including local and national news outlets, civil rights organizations, the Congressional Black Caucus, Gov. Deval Patrick and even U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Finally, Turner called for legislation “to end collusion between prosecutors and media that destroys the opportunity for a fair trial by distributing governmental allegation as evidence before any arraignments, indictments or trials have taken place.”

Turner also used the letter to call into question the motivations of U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Sullivan, who are not related. The U.S. attorney’s office keyed the investigation that led to Turner’s arrest and subsequent charges. More HERE

AAPP says: OK, Chuck Turner is fired up and has lashed out against “corrupt” prosecutors. But the fact of the matter is he was "caught red handed" taking a bribe. His call on President Obama to come to his rescue and drop all bribery charges against him, makes great urban political theatre but no common sense. Chuck Turner unfortunately has it twisted. It's not the “eight years of what he called corrupt practices of President Bush’s Department of Injustice,” that residents of his district should be looking at, it is him taking that money. It's as simple as that.

African American Political Pundit, grew up in Boston, and was a long time resident of Roxbury, the district that Chuck Turner represents.