Councilor Turner Press Release 12/12/08

Councilor Turner released the following press statement given by Attorney Michael Altman, who represents Terri Small-Turner, Councilor Turner’s wife and Campaign Treasurer, at a press conference at the Joseph Moakley Courthouse on 12/12/08.

Press Statement: December 12, 2008

The Committee to Reelect Chuck Turner, Chuck Turner’s Campaign Committee, received a broad grand jury subpoena issued by the U.S Attorney’s Office to produce all campaign documents concerning Councilor Turner’s campaign for the past four years.

1. The subpoena has put the Committee in an uncomfortable position: seek to quash the subpoena to prevent an abuse of power and create the false impression that it had documents that may be incriminating or produce the documents, despite the offensiveness of the subpoena, and show that there is nothing to hide.

2. The Committee with the support of Councilor Turner has decided to produce the subpoenaed documents, a box full of papers with many folders and pages. It has nothing to hide. There are no smoking guns or 18.5 minute gaps in the tapes. The truth will be there for the Grand Jury and the U.S. Attorney’s office to see.

3. The Committee is producing the documents even though the subpoena for “all documents” represents an abuse of power by the U.S. Attorney’s office; it is an abuse of power as the subpoena is so broad and the timing is wrong. The timing is wrong because prosecutors are not supposed to go looking for evidence after filing charges. A responsible prosecutor gathers evidence, evaluates it, and then, if appropriate, brings a charge.

4. The federal government, especially in the waning days of the Bush/ Michael Sullivan era, should not be compelling local office holders to produce information on campaign contributors, banking and campaign
revenue of elected officials.  The Bush administration, as we have read too often in the newspapers, abuses executive power. This subpoena issued by Michael Sullivan, Bush’s U.S. Attorney, is an abuse of executive power.

5. Important First Amendment rights are impaired when government seeks to intrude unnecessarily upon those who support a particular candidate or cause. In 1958, in a case brought by the NAACP, the U.S. Supreme Court held that it was a violation of the constitution for the State of Alabama to compel the NAACP to produce member names and addresses.

6. The subpoena to the Committee appears to be based upon a last ditch hope by the U.S. Attorney’s Office to try to build a case against Councilor Turner after charges have already been filed against him. The time to build a case, if there was a case (and there isn’t), was before charges were filed.

Michael Altman

Altman Riley Esher LLP
100 Franklin St.
Boston, MA 02110
617.399.7300
617.449.9510 (e-fax)