Turner grooms successor, targets foes Heads to prison after e-mail flurry

Turner grooms successor, targets foes
Heads to prison after e-mail flurry

Chuck Turner headed to a speaking event yesterday at Northeastern University.
(Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff)
By Andrew Ryan
Globe Staff / March 25, 2011

Chuck Turner sent a trove of e-mails in the 36 days he served on the Boston City Council after his felony conviction: He groomed his successor, Tito Jackson; sparred with critics; and fanned resentment against councilors who voted to expel him.

He also reveled in constant affirmation from his followers, and he refused an offer to lobby prosecutors for leniency, saying that would amount to “collaborating with the enemy.’’

“From a consciousness-raising standpoint, the best thing would be for them to put me in jail,’’ Turner explained in an e-mail to his staff Nov. 8.

That day has come for the 70-year-old, who is required to report to the Bureau of Prisons today and begin serving a three-year term at a Hazelton federal penitentiary in Morgantown, W.Va.

FULL STORY HERE
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/03/25/ex_councilor_chuck_turner_grooms_successor_targets_foes/?page=full