Caren Turner
Caren Turner | |
---|---|
Born | July 4, 1957 |
Nationality | American |
Education | |
Occupation(s) | Democratic lobbyist[1], political consultant and the CEO of government affairs firm, Turner Government & Public Affairs |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Henry Fishman (m. 1984 div. unknown)[2] |
Caren Zeldie[2] Turner is a United States Democratic lobbyist and former commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who received national media attention in 2018 after a video was released showing her berating police officers at a traffic stop and announcing she was a "friend of the mayor".[1] The former commissioner is also a political consultant and the founder and CEO of Turner Government & Public Affairs, a government affairs firm.[4][5] She served on Hillary Clinton's national finance team and is a co-chairman of the Financial Committee for Ready for Hillary, a super political action committee created to draft Clinton for the 2016 United States Presidential Election.[6][7] Turner has been featured on Fox Business as a correspondent on Washington lobbying.[4][8] She is also an attorney with Potomac Law Group[9][10] and a former adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.[11]
Early life and education
Turner is from New Jersey[12] and received her juris doctor from Georgetown Law, where she served as the editor of the school's Law and Policy in International Business law journal. She received a bachelor's degree from Brandeis University where she majored in both political science and Spanish. She also received an executive MBA from Rutgers University.[11] Turner sits on the Georgetown Law Alumni Board.[13]
Career
Turner has written articles for The Huffington Post[14] and The New Agenda.[15] She was a member of Together4Us.[16] Turner previously served as a vice president of FleishmanHillard; practiced international trade law and litigation at Cameron, Hornbostel and Butterman; and worked as a research analyst at International Business Government Counselors.[14] She is the former president of Shelter our Sisters, a New Jersey shelter for victims of domestic violence. Additionally, Turner is a women’s rights advocate and works with the organization Vital Voices to secure rights for women internationally.[17]
Turner served on the finance committees for Jon Corzine and others.[18]
In February 2017, at the recommendation of New Jersey Senate Majority Leader, Loretta Weinberg, she was nominated by Governor Chris Christie to serve a six-year unpaid term on the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.[1][19] On March 13, 2017, her nomination was approved by a Senate Judiciary Committee and the New Jersey State Senate.[1] In March 2017, Turner voiced her opposition to President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget due to the impact his proposed cuts would have on the Gateway Program.[20]
Traffic stop incident
In 2018, Turner was heavily criticised for her behavior at a traffic stop by Tenafly, New Jersey police.[21] On March 31 of that year, Tenafly police stopped a vehicle in which Turner's daughter had been traveling with friends.[22] After police discovered the vehicle's registration was out of date and the driver did not have an insurance card, they moved to impound it.[22] Turner arrived soon after and repeatedly demanded to know the reason for the traffic stop, telling the officers that she was a "friend of the mayor", that they could "not put a sentence together", requesting they address her by the title "commissioner", and stating that they had ruined the holiday of "Ph.D. students from MIT and Yale". She said she would be "talking to ... the mayor", and then launched into a tirade which climaxed in Turner ordering one of the police officers to "shut the fuck up".[22][23] [24]
New Jersey police released videotape of the interaction which quickly went viral on YouTube.[25][24] The incident was nationally reported by CBS News, CNBC, and the New York Times, among others.[24][26][22] Intense criticism of Turner followed, with the New Jersey Star Ledger writing that she was "unencumbered by clue" while a commentator for the Today Show described her as having "all the tact and manners of a zoo animal at feeding time."[27][28] Turner resigned from the Port Authority board soon afterwards.[22]
Following Turner's resignation, Port Authority chair Kevin O'Toole said Turner had "clearly and unambiguously" acted in violation of its code of ethics and issued an official apology to the Tenafly police officers involved in the incident.[21] Turner was given an official censure by the Port Authority, which described her behavior as "outrageous and profoundly disturbing".[21] Her case was referred to New Jersey's Ethics Commission.[29] In a later statement released by Turner, she denied her actions constituted a violation of the code of ethics.[25] Nevertheless, in October – six months following the incident – Turner was fined $1,500 by the Ethics Commission.[30]
Turner's actions at the traffic stop led to the introduction of legislation in New Jersey to eliminate police style badges being issued to politicians with Senator Vin Gopal saying the incident had demonstrated that the badges could be used "for the abuse of power".[31]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Ted Sherman (April 23, 2018). "Port Authority cites 'profoundly disturbing' conduct in resignation of commissioner". NorthJersey.com. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
- ^ a b https://mobile.nytimes.com/1984/01/29/style/august-wedding-for-miss-turner.html
- ^ https://m.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=bernard-turner&pid=183707407&referrer=0&preview=false
- ^ a b "The State of Government Lobbying". Fox Business. 7 May 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- ^ Andrea Shalal-Esa (19 September 2012). "A comedown for America's defense lobby". Reuters. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- ^ Klein, Rick (July 30, 2013). "Ready for Hillary PAC Reports Seven-Figure Cash Haul". ABC News. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
- ^ Catalina Camia (28 May 2013). "Major Democratic donors join pro-Hillary super PAC". USA Today. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
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(help) - ^ Andrea Shalal-Esa (10 November 2012). "Hewson's long Lockheed journey ends at the top". Fox Business. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- ^ "Caren Z. Turner – Potomac Law Group". Potomac Law Group. Archived from the original on 2015-02-03. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
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suggested) (help) - ^ "FindLaw – Caren Z. Turner". FindLaw. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
- ^ a b "Prof. Caren Turner". George Washington University. Archived from the original on May 17, 2016.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Max Pizarro (17 July 2008). "Hillraiser Turner considers the McCain option". PolitickerNJ. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- ^ "LAB Board Members – Georgetown Law". Georgetown University. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
- ^ a b The Huffington Post. "UPDATES FROM Caren Z. Turner". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
- ^ Stile, Charles (5 July 2008). "Devout Hillary fan may defect to McCain". The Online Record via Free Republic. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
- ^ "U.S.Premiere of India's Daughter an Inspiring Success". Vital Voices. March 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
- ^ Friedman, Matt (27 February 2017). "Christie nominates retiring senator, CEO of public affairs firm to Port Authority board". Politico. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
- ^ Matt Arco (March 13, 2017). "Christie Nominates Longtime Loyalist to Port Authority Board". NJ.com. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
- ^ John Reitmeyer (March 23, 2017). "Pushing to Keep Trump Budget Cuts From Derailing NJ Mass-Transit Projects". NJ Spotlight. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
- ^ a b c Sherman, Ted (April 26, 2018). "Port Authority slams Caren Turner over ethics, after sorry-not sorry apology". nj.com. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e "Port Authority Censures Former Commissioner Who Berated Police". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2018-10-30. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Friedman, Matt (April 24, 2018). "Port Authority ethics official cursed cop, demanded he call her 'Commissioner'". Politico. Archived from the original on 2018-10-30. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
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suggested) (help) - ^ a b c Mangan, Dan (April 25, 2018). "Hillary Clinton fundraiser and lobbyist Caren Turner quits Port Authority ethics post after video of her cursing out local cops goes viral". CNBC. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
- ^ a b Levine, Cecilia (April 25, 2018). "Tenafly's Caren Turner Breaks Silence, Denies Violating Agency Ethics Code". Englewood Daily Voice. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
- ^ "Video shows Port Authority official who abruptly resigned cursing at officers". CBS News. April 25, 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
- ^ Schwern, Greg (May 1, 2018). "Mom's Gone Viral...and That's Not Good". Today (U.S. TV program). Retrieved October 29, 2018.
- ^ "Hats off to Tenafly cops. Good riddance to Caren Turner". Newark Star Ledger. April 25, 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-10-30. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Ted Sherman (27 April 2018). "New video of Caren Turner at Tenafly police station surfaces. This time she didn't drop names". The Star-Ledger. Archived from the original on 2018-10-30. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
The matter was also referred to the state Ethics Commission.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Friedman, Matt (October 26, 2018). "Former Port Authority commissioner fined $1,500 over profanity-laced rant". Politico. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
- ^ Friedman, Matt (July 27, 2018). "Caren Turner incident leads senators to propose eliminating police-style badges for officials". Politico. Archived from the original on 2018-10-30. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
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