Chuck Turner Statement 5/10/09

The good news is that the Election Office informed me on Friday that I am
on the ballot based on their count of 224 good signatures. We only
needed 191. Those still having papers should turn them into the
district office. However, we are not going to continue gathering
signatures. The election department will not count them since we have
more than our required number.

The next phase of the campaign will be to have my supporters return to
the streets to gather signatures of those who are willing to endorse
me. Since there is a lingering question of how much support I have
based on my arrest, I think that it would be helpful to gather the
signatures and periodically publish them for those who may doubt that
I am still supported.

I am tentatively planning to have a meeting at the First Church in
Roxbury on at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 23rd.  At that meeting I will
discuss the signature strategy in more detail as well as talk about my
platform and public safety initiatives. I will send an email during
the week of May 18th to confirm. However, I would ask you to put it on
your calendar now.

An Apology

As I have said before I know that without your help I would not even
be running again. That is, given the assault on me and my reputation,
if you all had not come to my defense they probably would have been
able to drive me from office. I wouldn’t have gone quietly but given
the media barrage and the attempted City Council sandbagging, it would
have been hard to withstand the pressure.

I start with that acknowledgment because to me it means that I have a
responsibility to keep you as fully informed as possible regarding
what is happening with my case. Therefore, I apologize for not
communicating with you regarding my court appearance on May 6th. Let
me explain how it happened. Based on the fact that the court
appearance was to deal with the 23 new indictments for Senator
Wilkerson, I assumed that I would not have to appear at the
arraignment.

Since I didn’t think I would have to go, I didn’t bother informing you
that the date was coming. When I found out on the afternoon of May 5th
that I was wrong about my attendance and that Judge Hillman would hear
arguments regarding a new motion filed by Asst US Attorney McNeil, I
started to send an email but thought that there was not a need to call
you out for a process that would last probably 20 to 30 minutes.
However, it has occurred to me that I need to keep you informed of
each step and give you the opportunity to make your own decisions.

I was right that the hearing was very short since it consisted of
Senator Wilkerson pleading not guilty to the new indictments and me
pleading not guilty to the old ones since I don’t have any new ones.
The hearing on McNeil’s motion lasted for ten minutes since neither
McNeil nor my lawyer, Barry Wilson, had a lot to say beyond the briefs
they had presented.

The hearing focused on McNeil’s request that the court force me to
take the discovery “evidence” even if I was not willing to sign the
protective order. His excuse for taking away my right to decide was
that if I didn’t have the “evidence” until the trial, I would try to
get a continuance once the state was ready to go to trial and released
the discovery. Judge Hillman ruled on Wednesday afternoon in support
of McNeil’s motion.

We are appealing his decision. However, I have informed my lawyers
that if we lose the appeal, they should not accept any of the
“evidence”. My rationale is that once I accept the “evidence”, it will
be very easy for them to arrest me for contempt of court since
anything I say about the case is probably covered by some piece of
information in the discovery. So the only way to protect myself from
going to jail for exercising my first amendment rights is to not
accept the discovery “evidence”.

I know that the question comes to mind—how can your lawyers defend you
if you don’t have the discovery “evidence”.  The reality is that they
don’t have any evidence that can convict me for a crime I did not
commit. That is, they say I extorted money from Wilburn; yet the FBI
affidavit shows that I never asked him for money. They say that the
money was given in exchange for my work with Sen. Wilkerson to get him
a license. Yet, the only thing I did was file a hearing order
regarding the issue of discrimination in the distribution of liquor
licenses.

To me the best evidence that they have no evidence is the fact that
despite calling two of my staff members and my wife before the grand
jury, searching through four years of my campaign contribution
records, and ordering me to turn over all emails and letters relating
to Déjà vu, they were not able to find any thing that allowed them to
give me new indictments.

Our next move after our appeal regarding the discovery is denied is to
file a motion for dismissal. There is also the possibility that once
the new Massachusetts US Attorney is appointed, there could be a
decision to not go forward with my case. I am not counting on it, but
there is a distinct possibility, particularly since Wilburn who
allegedly took the pictures is not only saying I am innocent but also
saying that he will not testify. So as they say in radio, “Stay tuned
for late breaking developments”.

chuck

PS: I have heard that Sullivan who resigned a couple of weeks ago has
taken a job with Halliburton. Seems like an appropriate place for him.
Once we “prove” my innocence I hope we can bring him back to Boston to
have his turn before the judge. It would be the perfect way to end
this nightmare.