Blue Mass Group

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Chuck Turner Arrested

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WBZ is reporting  that City Councilor Chuck Turner has been arrested by Federal Agents at City Hall.

Boston city councilor Chuck Turner was arrested early Friday morning, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

He was arrested at Boston City Hall on a federal warrant.

Details of the charges won’t be available until after court opens later this morning.

FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz told the Associated Press the arrest is connected to the Dianne Wilkerson bribery case.

How many more will fall from the Dianne Wilkerson scandal.  How high will it reach. Is the Mayor safe?  

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  1. from EaBo’s Days of Our Lives.

    <

    p>This could go all the way to the White House!  

    <

    p>I ask you dear sir, is anyone safe?

  2. Just like WIlkerson, Dimasi and Stevens…, these morons are committing more than just a crime… they are destroying people’s faith in elected officials. If guilty, prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. Hopefully, if guilty, we will hear universal condemnation from all “parties” and their pundits.

    • We bring you Osmin’s approach to justice:

      Erst geköpft,
      dann gehangen,
      dann gespießt
      auf heiße Stangen;
      dann vebrannt,
      dann gebunden,
      und getaucht;
      zuletzt geschunden.
        First beheaded,
      Then hung
      then impaled
      on hot rods,
      then burnt,
      then bound,
      then drowned,
      at last flayed.

      I would better prevention, better enforcement, and less impaling.

      • which should be part of every public official, then I will repeat one of my favorite parts of PeeWee’s Big Adventure…

        <

        p>[the whole gang holds “Politician” hostage] I say we kill him!
        Biker Gang: Yeah!
        Biker #3: I say we hang him, then we kill him!
        Biker Gang: Yeah!
        Biker #4: I say we stomp him!
        Biker Gang:Yeah!
        Biker #4: Then we tattoo him!
        Biker Gang: Yeah!
        Biker #4: Then we hang him…!
        Biker Gang: t] YEAH!’!
        Biker #4: And then we kill him!

        <

        p>At the same time more prevention and better enforcement would be great.

  3. Geez, I disagree with the Mayor in a number of policy areas.  (Too bad he won’t join Obama and many of the nation’s black Democratic mayors in promoting charter public schools to serve black and Hispanic kids).  

    <

    p>But

    <

    p>If nothing else, Menino comes across as an ABSOLUTELY sincere, uncorruptible guy.

    <

    p>When he leans on someone, it’s to get summer jobs for underprivileged teens,  not a bag of cash for himself.  

    <

    p>I realize that relying on my gut, I put myself in the same position as AmberPaw re Marzilli, where you say “Noooooo way could this guy have done anything, I’ve seen him in action” and then later you say “Uh oh.  This guy did it.”  

    <

    p>But I’d be shocked – the real kind, not the Casablanca kind – to see any Menino lapses.  

  4. Wait…no one would be stupid enough to bribe one of the twenty Mass Republicans left! It’s not like they have any sort of “clout” or power.

    <

    p>As for Turner, just so there’s no Eabo “where’s the looney left outrage” posts, let me go on record as saying good riddance to Turner (if the photo from the Globe is what the FBI says it is), Wilkerson, Marzilli and anyone else in office conducting themselves so egregiously outside the law, let alone outside the standard of ethics for elected officials.  

  5. I don’t know enough about the case itself to speak intelligently about it, but did they really have to knock down his door at 6am?  This is a bribery case, not a hostage situation.

    • You make it sound like they went all Elian Gonzalez on him.  That doesn’t seem to be true.

      • The article says they went to his home first and, on finding him not there, went to City Hall where the arrest went down at about 7AM. It does not say that they knocked down his door. In fact, not even the Herald is reporting that they knocked down his door, and I’d expect them to seize on the sensationalist aspects if they were present…

      • WBZ radio was reporting this all morning.

        <

        p>

        “A source tells WBZ News Radio 1030’s John McClain that FBI agents broke through the door of Turner’s Roxbury home, but he wasn’t there, so federal authorities issued a fugitive alert and discovered him a short time later at City Hall, sleeping in his office. “

  6. Call me parnoid, but, personally, I find anyone who, in the face of the Wilkerson arrest and the voters’ and party’s choice of someone else, didn’t support the party nominee in the race as extremely suspect. There is a reason their weren’t to many. Deval Patrick had the decency to switch and say Wilkerson should resign, while Turner, Menino, and Sam Yoon, who was only recently elected to the council thanks to the party, remained uncommitted at BEST. to me, that makes them suspect. None will get my vote again, especially if they don’t respect my primary vote in the face of what should have been, BEFORE the arrest, an ethically easy call.

    • I mean, if you’re an elected official and someone starts handing you large sums of cash shouldn’t a little alarm bell go off somewhere? Don’t these people watch television or go to the movies for heaven’s sake.

    • “Hey, it’s just a friendly Birthday card…you know, like the ones granny used to send with a $5 dollar bill inside.”

  8. we’re on a roll. now is the time to clean house once and for all and for real. the season of change has come to massachusetts. it may get ugly and angry, but it’s time to finally rid the citizenship of all of the ‘public servants’ who consider being a 85% public servant and 15% criminal to be legitimate.

    <

    p>ooh, sal . . . ?

  9. the issue of race in this situation. Marzilli did some pretty lewd things, but no one seems to really be targeting the corrupt white guys quite the same (Ted Stevens, but he’s insane as well).

    <

    p>Why isn’t anyone going after the bribers at all? They are probably working for the republicans.

    <

    p>The people of District 7 are quite forgiving, and Turner has been an incredible advocate for them in his time on City Council. I suspect a call for his resignation won’t be pushed by his district as much as the outsider contingent.

    <

    p>Remember how forgiving Wilkerson’s constituents were for so long???

  10. would there be a special election?  Or would the mayor and/or the other city council members appoint a replacement?

    • …that the next highest vote-getter in the most recent election gets the seat.  Someone can certainly correct me if I’m wrong.

      • but does the same rule apply for this, a district seat?  If someone (hypothetically) wins an election with 90% of the vote and then resigns, it doesn’t sound right to give the seat to the opponent who got 10%.

        • It was changed some years ago, given the fact that there were often minor candidates drawing 5-10% against incumbents and the question was raised as to whether they should ascend to the seat.

  11. Although it appears he was caught in the same kind of act as Wilkerson (Keep in mind I can’t play the clip on dialup.)  I haven’t heard what actual connection there is, if any.

    • It is closely related. According to the affidavit (which I can’t link to and which I don’t know how to upload as a PDF), it’s the same cooperating witness and the same liquor license applicant, and the implication of the affidavit is that Wilkerson let Turner know that the cooperating witness was, ah, eager to grease the skids:

      <

      p>

      After the CW made the third cash payment to Wilkerson, he received a call from TURNER. TURNER told the CW that he had spoken with Wilkerson and that Wilkerson had told TURNER that the CW had been to visit her. TURNER then invited the CW to visit him at his district office in Roxbury, Massachusetts. The CW understood this call from TURNER to be a solicitation for a cash payment, similar to the three cash payments he had already made to Wilkerson.

      <

      p>For those of you with PACER access, you can find the affidavit under docket no. 08-mj-1785. Maybe someone who knows how could upload the whole document?

      <

      p>TedF

  12. No surprise here!

    <

    p>What surprises me is the fact the feds are starting at City Hall.  I want to see them do the perp walk at the State House!

    <

    p>The golden dome on Beacon Hill makes such a nice back drop for TV news.

    <

    p>Diane.  Now Chuck. Then Sal?  Who’s next?  

    <

    p>Pick the perp!?!

    <

    p>

    • If the speculation is right and Rep. Byron Rushing is the mysterious Representative Z in the Wilkerson affidavit, and if Representative Z actually took a bribe, then he seems like the next most likely target to me. Perhaps Aziz Mohammed, Associate A in the Wilkerson affidavit, will also face some state or federal charge for his role in the bribery scheme. And the Wilkerson affidavit also suggests another Representative would need to be paid off–any informed speculation?

      <

      p>TedF

  13. does anyone feel like pols in the roxbury/dorchester (and south boston) have a fiefdom mentality?

    <

    p>i know that for me, when i hear someone use the term ‘my’ people, that it sends a little chill up my spine. that besides referring to other people like them, that it also betrays this feeling that the people in their district are more like subjects, and that the representatives are the lords.

    <

    p>and maybe that it’s less a sense of privilege, than a matter of control.

    <

    p>

    • I don’t get why the Roxbury/Dorchester neighborhoods of Boston have been targeted by the FBI. They finally get someone who represents the population and they are targets for corruption and greed. Turner has been a true representative of his people and his district in Boston City Council.

      <

      p>He is well-liked by his constituents and residents outside his district.

      <

      p>If you consider the amount of disenfranchisement that has occurred in the Dudley neighborhood over the decades, the fact that the district has been able to rise above it and elect someone who truly represents them and has been an advocate is a very good thing.

      <

      p>I just feel that this is SOO targeted and I don’t understand why. Besides, perhaps, the obvious.

      • I just feel that this is SOO targeted and I don’t understand why. Besides, perhaps, the obvious.

        <

        p>I think the reports have suggested that the cooperating witness approached the FBI with an allegation that Wilkerson was on the take. It’s also been widely reported that the CW was a well-regarded African-American businessman. So I’m not sure why you think the FBI is targeting black politicians.

        <

        p>TedF

  14. at the print of the ‘payoff’, makes it look like Turner was giving the cash, not receiving it. Usually, if you are giving money discreetly, you put it in your hand palm down, and leave it in the upfacing hand of the individual you are giving it to as if you were shaking their hand.

    • The CW said that he “heard Turner once took a payment to write a letter”, so the FBI decided to include Turner in their completely contrived scenario involving a nightclub liquor license, phony allegations of racial discrimination by the BLB, and so forth.
      I wonder if the FBI has been similarly “testing the mettle” of other politicians who have been linked to corruption or influence peddling merely through this kind of hearsay?

      <

      p>Any public servant (cops, ISD, politicians, or tax assessors) should know that you can’t take money from people for an official act, so if he took it he deserves to go down, but I wonder if the feds tried their tactics on others, but found the other pols to made of sterner(or at least, savvier) stuff? Or were Wilkerson and Turner the only two who were thus experimented upon?

      <

      p>Let’s see some grainy videotape of Sal DiMasi, Theresa Murray, John Rogers, or Maureen Feeney refusing a bribe, for instance. That would make them seem like awesome people and demonstrate the transcendent fairness of the FBI’s tactics.

      <

      p>One more thing: Did Turner really appear at his arraignment in handcuffs? Were the Feds worried he would try to stage an epic escape attempt- maybe grab a stapler off the courtroom clerk’s desk and start taking dudes out with it? Did convicted felon Finneran ever get to wear the silver bracelets of shame? Can you imagine DiMasi’s door being broken down by Feds over his mortgage-bribe?

      • It really is that simple. I don’t want to hear about all the “wonderful” things he did, about how many people love him… if he broke the law then he should be punished. Entrapment… I don’t think so. Nothing more than greed and power. He may be an example of even the most noble politician getting to office becoming a “Diane Wilkerson” once they are in office.

        <

        p>Was this his first time? How many times has he done this? How many people do you have to murder before you are guilty of murder? How many tricks does a streetwalker have to turn before she is called a prostitute? Same answer for all… 1.

      • if someone broke the law and they get caught, they’ve got nothing to stand on. if i get ticketed for running a red light, arguing that i’ve seen  old irish bankers run red lights and not get caught, is no defense.

        <

        p>if people want to beef about which particular criminal gets taken down, then let them advocate for taking down all of the criminals with them. we would all be better off for that.

        <

        p>so rather than thinking that turner and wilkerson are getting treated unfairly, people should applaud the rooting out of these criminals. and fight to keep the fbi going towards all other suspected criminals irregardless of their race, position, resume, or favorite baseball team.

        <

        p>and if someone knows of another bribe-taking politician who hasn’t been clipped yet, well then google the number to the nearest fbi office and tell them. and if it’s dimasi murray et al that have earned being cuffed and perp-walked, then nail them too.

  15. You can reach the FBI’s affidavit as a pdf document at boston.com and also at wbur’s website.  To me, it seems to raise more questions than it answers.  I thought affidavits are supposed to be in the first person, yet the affidavit is by an FBI agent, not the so-called “cooperating witness.”  Affidavits are carefully crafted by the drafter to draw the reader to what appears to be unrefutable conclusions and may serve the U.S. Attorney’s purpose of getting the case into court.  However, as former city councillor Larry diCara said on tonight’s Channel 7 news, “Any U.S. attorney can indict a ham sandwich” (or something to that effect).

    <

    p>Sullivan, a 2001 Bush appointee, has overreached and abused his prosecutorial discretion in the past.  See the below link to the Boston Phoenix editorial (May 2002) on Sulivan’s choice to seek maximum penalties against undocumented immigrants working at Logan Airport while declining to prosecute the employers involved.
    http://www.bostonphoenix.com/b…  Turner has been a consistent thorn in the side of conservatives.  Why has the FBI and the U.S. Atorney’s office used 18 months of federal resources to try to entice Chuck Turner, a Boston city councillor, of all the problems in this state and nation?  Why, for instance, has Sullivan done nothing with the FBI’s investigation of mortgage rescue scammers in Dorchester and Brockton that are instead being prosecuted civilly in Superior Court by Attorney General Coakley (the state laws available for her to go after these criminals are far less than those available to the feds).  Let’s wait to hear from Turner, and for him to have his day in court, before we side with the FBI, whose reputation in Boston (and elsewhere) has been far from stellar.  Has everyone forgotten the recently-concluded trial of FBI agent Connolly in Florida?  

  16. Regarding overreaching, I also want to add that, if you read the affidavit, the CW (“cooperating witness”) doesn’t explain why Turner invited him to his district office and I’d like to hear Turner’s version of events before I conclude it was to get alone to take a bribe.  Also, in the CW’s own words, he told Turner he wanted to thank him for his efforts, which doesn’t sound a bribe.  Turner’s efforts actually seem consistent with the diligence I’ve observed in Turner’s pursuit of his constituents’ goals in the past rather than induced by a vague promise of throwing a future fundraiser for him.  At best, the affidavit makes out a case (not yet tested by a court of law) for violation of campaign donation laws, in that no more than $500 can be accepted from an individual and no more than $50 in cash, and where the FBI alleges the funds failed to appear on Turner’s September campaign finance report.  

    <

    p>Also does anyone have any thoughts on why “attempted extortion,” rather than “extortion” is the charge?  Also, on what grounds would Sullivan have to have filed the complaint in Worcester instead of Boston?  Even if legally permissible, what is his motivation (it’s also where I think Wilkerson’s case was filed)–to avoid a jury of their peers?  

  17. Just reviewed others’ earlier posts and, in particular, the reference to the CW (“cooperating witness”) as widely described as a well-respected business man.  I sincerely doubt that’s what he’ll turn out to be when it all shakes out.  No doubt he was “cooperating” because the FBI had something on him and this was his way to get more lenient treatment.  In a recent Globe story discussing the man (whose name I’m forgetting), he was the the manager of Deja Vu for an owner who got busted for drugs, I believe it said.  The businessman had financially helped this club owner on various business endeavors and had told the Globe that he was simply doing his part in helping a young black entrepreneur come up in the world.  I suspect that this angle will prove central to the ultimate story of the businessman’s “cooperation” with the FBI.

    <

    p>    

  18. The “cooperating witness” (CW) in both the Wilkerson and Turner cases is believed to be African-American businessman Ron Wilburn, according to the Globe, 11/10/08: http://www.boston.com/news/loc…

    <

    p>The club he managed wasn’t Deja Vu (the club he was ostensibly getting a new license for) but rather Mirage at Estelle’s (see again above Globe article), which closed in 2007 after drug charges against the owner (a man named Soto and Wilburn’s protege) were resolved with seven years’ probation in early 2007.  It was shortly thereafter in 2007 that the CW made allegations to FBI about Wilkerson–again, according to above Globe story–and apparently Turner.  If memory serves, I think the affidavit says CW started the probe against Turner when he volunteered to the FBI that he’d “heard” that Turner had accepted a bribe for writing a letter of recommendation for someone with a criminal record.  

    <

    p>In full disclosure, I am a white 50+ woman who has been part of the Boston community (but not within Turner’s district) for approximately 30 years.  After meeting Turner at a Dorchester house gathering during his initial campaign in the late ’90’s, I was impressed enough to join the large army of volunteers that helped get him elected the first time.  I’ve been imensely impressed at his level of commitment to the interests of his constituents and to the level of loyalty returned to him by his constients (including many in the “recovery” community who he helped as a counselor, his work before becoming a councillor).   He has been extremely effective in Get-Out-the-Vote activities for himself and other progressive candidates/causes because of his hard work, organizing abilities, and the enthusiasm he fosters in the community.  Because of this and the threat he poses to the Republican establishment that Sullivan represents, and the FBI’s historic record, particularly in the black community, I view the FBI’s allegations, and the U.S. Attorney’s charges, with a healthy dose of skepticism.      

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