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Chuck Turner makes his case
By adamg on Wed, 11/26/2008 - 10:28am
Mike Ball actually watched Turner on BNN last night, files a report on what he said, which seems to boil down to:
- He doesn't remember ever meeting Wilburn;
- If the guy did slip him $1,000, it was a campaign contribution and, yeah, it was more than the state allows, so he'll return the excess.
What we really need, Ball concludes, is a crusading attorney general to ride into town and clean up the systemic mess but Martha Coakley doesn't know how to ride that horse.
Meanwhile, Martin Solomon goes through photos from Turner's City Hall rally and identifies all the death-to-Israel types there to support Turner in his hour of need (including the woman with a grudge against Theo Epstein). Turner, you may recall, is active in local anti-Israel protests - and blames Zionists for slavery.
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Comments
Chuck, Chuck, Chuck
You are full of shit (been on a bus in Natick lately?).
Did you not notice that the FBI covered this lie in their affidavit by showing that you didn't list one single dollar of the money on your contributor filings? Are you claiming that you took a contribution and didn't put it into your campaign account at all?
It was one thing when you were just claiming innocence, but now you've agreed that you were pictured taking the money! You just sold the FBI's case! Get the hell out of my politics and shovel your sidewalk this winter!
Turner's Defense
In essence, Turner's defense is that he DID break the law, just not nearly as seriously as what is alleged. Indeed, right now Turner would LOVE to be called out for campaign finance impropriety, which is exactly how he's trying to frame it. I'm not saying I buy it for a second, but its not quite making the FBI's case against him as it is making A case against himself. Its really Turner's only recourse at this point, and it wouldn't surprise me if he's convinced himself of it as well. Convincing a federal jury will be harder bargain.
Campaign violation
If true, it would mean Turner's case would shift to the state level where, traditionally, the penalty consists of a simple fine, not a potential 25-year prison sentence.
None of the FBI's business
The question of Turner's guilt or innocence in this "Corruption" is of secondary concern.
Why are the Feds even investigating this at all? What business is it of theirs? What jurisdiction do they have (is there anything that is just a local matter anymore that the Feds can't stick their torture loving asses into?)
Couple questions- do the Feds even have the common courtesy to inform our local police of these investigations? Does Mayor Menino care at all that the Feds just run around investigating our elected reps and city officials?
What about Patrick? Is he even notified of these investigations?
Who are these Feds? Whose interests do they represent?
What is their agenda?
I'm sorry- but I don't think we should welcome investigations of our elected local officials by the secret police agencies of a distant corrupt cess pool of an Imperial Capital- one that tortures and kidnaps people- that launches wars of theft and murder on lies- that steals trillions from us to spread among themselves . . .
. . . but they nab Chuck Turner for some petty "bribe" BS?
Hey- Mr. Fed- mind the timber in your own eye before poking at the splinter in ours . . . and we can determine for ourselves what is and what is not "corruption" anyway.
The city dispense these liquor licenses as if they were Hope Diamonds- almost with the intent to encourage graft- and the Fed are on top this? With what they should be investigating I find this sickening.
We have a choice. We can rely on some unaccountable foreign agency of secret police to "clean up" our city and state or we can rely on ourselves. The argument that "only the feds" can "clean up" this state is ridiculous and only encourages more lack of engagement from the citizenry.
"Corruption" is often times the essential geer grease that allows multi ethnic cities to operate and is essential for harmony. I would rather suffer the existence of a dozen Chuck Turners than have the Feds police our race relations and act as the overseer of our politicians.
Will you still feel that way after 1/20/09 ?
Soon Barack Obama will be president and perhaps you will feel a bit less alienated from the "foreign" federal government?
It is the FBI's business
Accepting bribes, as an actor of the government, is a federal crime - plain and simple. The #4 priority of the FBI is to investigate public corruption.
I'd reckon they are probably in a better position to investigate these things because they have no ties. Do you think Coakley is going to go after anyone? She'll have a hard time being trusted in various parts of the state afterwards. She also wouldn't have much luck using State Police for her efforts had she decided to sting Turner and Wilkerson because chances are it'd find it's way back to them and the investigation is up in smoke.
And the FBI are hardly secret compared to our intentionally clandestine organizations like the CIA and NSA.
news that matters
Mike Ball actually watched Turner on BNN last night, files a report on what he said
Okay, but did he play bingo?
"I believe in Harvey
"I believe in Harvey Dent"..?
but you know where that leads...
The Vast Jewish Conspiracy!!!1
No one can save Chuck Turner now. He's gone, and we the people can hope that this probe continues deeper into the abuses of our local Government. Cleaning up house seems long overdue.
But seriously adamg...I notice you really like to post unflattering reports of people who are critical of the state of Israel, often these have a tenuous link to what the article is actually about. Remember, this is Universal Hub "All Boston, All the time."
I recognize that the right for Israel to exist is an important issue for you, but for journalistic integrity I would appreciate if you could limit your discussion of the issue in question to times when it is actually relevant to the article. Secondly, I think many would also appreciate if you lightened your commentary. Your intolerance towards people with a different opinion on Israel is very tangible and does not reflect well on you.
It goes without saying that people have every right to believe what they will about the legitimacy of the Israeli state. They have every right to support or oppose Israel's domestic, foreign, and military policy. It troubles me that you come off a lot like one of those people who really believes that anyone critical of Israel is automatically a bigoted anti-semite.
Both the Pro-Israel and Anti-Israel crowd have their crazies, and it doesn't help anyone - or improve the situation - to act like both groups are defined by their respective extremes.
Why I linked to the Solomonia post
I have no idea how my district councilor (Rob Consalvo) feels about the occupation of the West Bank (if he has any opinions about it at all). And that's just fine with me - he's there to worry about stuff like potholes, not construction of a security wall 5,000 miles away.
But I know exactly how Chuck Turner feels about it, because he's made it an important part of who he is and what he thinks is the job of a Boston city councilor. And Turner has repeatedly acted as if the Boston City Council should have its own foreign policy - recklessly at times (remember his press conference in City Hall with the photos of US soldiers "raping" Iraqi women that turned out to be stills from a porn flick?).
And if you've been following my writing on those supporters of his, you'll notice I don't write about Israel or its critics, except for a (fortunately) small group of Boston-area people (like David Rolde and Ron Francis), who refuse to capitalize "Israel" because they think it has no right to exist at all.
They are local (Francis keeps trying to get Somerville to divest from Israel, Rolde is a former mucky-muck in the Mass. Green-Rainbow Party). Turner has thrown his lot in with these people over the years, and yes, I would argue he has veered dangerously close to their special brand of anti-Semitism when he proclaims Zionism a creation of the 19th-century KKK.
And that's why I linked to the Solomonia post.
Wake up!
Israel sucks.
Just because you cherry pick a few of the most ignorant assholes out there to represent to pro-Palestinian or anti-Israeli cause does not justify the oppression that Israel brings.
God given aboriginal rights? Yes, let's converge from around the world and kick people out and expect no one to put up a fuss.
Y'all just a bunch of whiners who feel entitled.
What incentive does the U.S.A. have to support Israel. How does it improve to our national security and foreign relations? It doesn't. It's a waste of money. It's dangerous.
I didn't know that any
I didn't know that any reasonable person even questioned the right of Israel to exsist. Are you seriously asking that question? If you are, then yes, you are a fucking anti-semite. I'll say it right now.
Whit
this is not the time or the place
I didn't know that any reasonable person even questioned the right of Israel to exsist.
This isn't the time or the place, so I'll just direct you to go spend some time reading about the history of Israel. A few starting points:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliyah_Bet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UN_Partition_Plan
If you are, then yes, you are a fucking anti-semite. I'll say it right now.
Questioning the legal authority and moral right involved in the country's foundation does not infer hatred or bigotry towards the religion or its members. Such hatred has no bounds in logic, because "Jewish" and "Zionist" have never completely overlapped.
If it's one thing I can't stand, it's the ADL and other pro-Israel groups/people screaming "ANTI-SEMITE!" every time anyone is critical of the nation. It's quite similar to Chuck Turner (hey, some on-topic-ness) or Wilkerson screaming that the FBI and Feeney and *insert white person here* are "racist"...
I don't need you to instruct
I don't need you to instruct me about the history of Israel. I think there is no question what-so-ever that anyone who questions the right of Israel to even EXIST is an anti-semite. But thanks anyway, Brett.
Whit
The Green-Rainbow Party and Chuck Turner
Green-Rainbow statement on Turner:
Translation
NOT MY NIGEL!
Alternatively: equality means that everybody gets to abuse power and be a crook and get away with it
Whose Agenda
Exactly. Who knows what tangled Byzantine reason is behind this Fed investigation?
How did this thing even get launched? If you think the FBI just got a phone call from a "concerned citizen" and started up this investigation of Wilkerson and Turner then I have a bridge to sell you over the Mystic!
The point is this . . . The FBI is a an alien and wholly unaccountable organization - subject to exactly no local oversight or local review. Whose agenda - whose interests are they serving in going after Wilkerson and Turner?
The FBI should do what they do best- harass and spy on cab drivers from Algeria and manufacture "Terror plots" to expose and get their headlines- or go after 80 year old Italian bookies in the North End that they call "Mob bosses". They shouldn't be allowed to investigate our local reps. Did Turner cross state lines to get his bribe? No. So what the hell are the Feds doing investigating him or Wilkerson at all?
Did US Atty tell black ministers he's also looking at whites?
Kevin McCrea says that's what Michael Sullivan told members of the Black Ministerial Alliance.
Chuck Turner press conference, ver. 2.0
The Phoenix's Chris Faraone files a report from outside Turner's district office. He is not impressed.
An inverted-pyramid report
From the Globe: Turner raises questions about Wilburn interview.
Memo to Chris Faraone
The way the article's written and given the placement of this line, Faraone seems to be indicating his displeasure with the suggestion that members of the press are incapable of thinking critically.
Problem is, they often aren't capable of thinking (or writing) critically. I've been one of them. I know them. I read what gets out of their heads, past their fingers, and into public view. So invert that bit, which has no place in the piece anyway, and the article will become whole and self-consistent.
Nothing really is more annoying than an outraged "member of the press" lashing out because someone had the nerve to criticize.*
- - -
* No, this is not a defense of Turner, nor am I inclined to think he needs or deserves that crowd of true believers. This is about writers who regularly dish it out, but can't take it, and who push back from a much louder/brighter platform than their adversaries are allowed to have.
Dan the Bagel man is a Death to Israel guy?
Wow, I didn't know that Dan, Grace Ross, the AFSC and that union guy Jeff Klein are "death to Israel types." Thanks for letting me know. I guess they won't be flying anytime soon. Someone should revoke Dan's license to bagel.
Do you have any more stories on them shouting "death to Israel," plotting against Israel or joining the Nazis or Al Qaeda?
Sure
Dunno about the bagel guy, but here is a piece by David Rolde himself, which includes this fun little section:
Or perhaps you'd like to read how Rolde thinks how Darfur relief efforts are a Zionist plot to divert attention away from Israel.
Or maybe you'd rather read about Rolde and his buddies heckling survivors of genocides from Europe to Cambodia.
"all the death to Israel type[s]"
Dunno about the bagel guy
Hmmm, passing by the question of whether this guy Rolde ever advocated "death to Israel" for argument's sake, is Rolde one of "all the death to Israel types," or the only "death to Israel type?"
If you "dunno," maybe you shouldn't have included Dan the Bagel Man, Grace Ross and the rest of those pictured under the rubric of "all the death to Israel types." Ya think?
More
Elaine Antonio is one of the organizers of Boston Anti-Zionist Action, whose motto is "From The River To The Sea Palestine Will Be Free" (for those not familiar with Middle Eastern geography, that is the region from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, i.e., the entire state of Israel), and whose blog ran a post explaining Purim like this: Genocidal Jews celebrating mass murder tonight M20.
PF Soto runs Rule 19, on which she states:
I can't say for sure
I can't say for sure if Dan is one of the "Death to Israel" bunch, but he did try to pick a fight with me across the tracks at Reservoir a few years back. I have no idea what his beef was, but he started screaming "you, with the banjo," and asked something like "don't you care about the plight of the Palestinian people?" Since I just wanted to be left alone, I think I said something witty like "STFU and leave me alone," which set him off until I boarded my trolley.
I guess part of the Zionist conspiracy to oppress the poor, lamb-like Palestinian people involves terror brigades of Jewish banjoists playing "Cluck Old Hen" very badly, otherwise why pick on me?
who said anything about death?
Well, calling them "Death to Israel types," except for maybe one or two of those pictured, seems unfair to me.
Maybe, just maybe...
Coakley isn't doing anything because she's just as corrupt as all the rest of them?
She's hedging her bets. No
She's hedging her bets. No sense making enemies. When a wolf takes one of the sheep from the herd, the rest of the sheep pay attention.
The other Boston city councilors.
It's why the other Boston city councilors' aren't very open with our Boston City Council's public records. The other councilors' indiscretions might be discovered.