Chuck Turner

Latest Articles

What happens if they hold a city election and nobody notices?

Quiet fight
The past few years, Boston has been almost continuously wrapped up in big, attention-getting elections.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | June 09, 2011

The Third Annual Phoenix Memorial Day look at the laughable state of Massachusetts politics

Ready, Aim — Roast
Hey, thanks for having me back for the Third Annual Boston Phoenix Memorial Day Political Roast! Good to see so many of you here — the last time I saw this many Beacon Hill insiders in one place was on the prospective witness list for the Sal DiMasi trial!
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | May 31, 2011

District 7 endorsement: Vote Tito

Plus, sex ed and race in Boston’s schools
Thirty-five-year-old Tito Jackson, a former economic development official in Governor Deval Patrick's administration, is the candidate most deserving of District 7's votes.
By EDITORIAL | March 04, 2011

Turning on Turner

Letters to the Boston editor, February 11, 2011
I was grooving on your January 28 issue, including the Student Survival Guide , until I got to " 50 Concerts To See Before Finals Week ."
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | March 17, 2011

By | January 01, 0001

The new black

Can a new group of leaders help Boston finally shed its reputation as hostile territory for the black professional middle class?
When the Theater District's Cure Lounge ejected a group of black Harvard and Yale alums and grad students last month, many saw it as the latest confirmation of Boston's racist core.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | December 15, 2010

Wiki paradoxes

Plus, kudos to Council and DeLeo
Trust us: It is only a matter of time before Hollywood brings the saga of WikiLeaks impresario Julian Assange to the big screen.
By EDITORIAL | December 08, 2010

Interview: Boston City Councilor Matt O'Malley

The new kid
Age 31, recently elected Boston City Councilor Matt O'Malley is a member of a new generation of local politicos who are more at home in coffee bars than in smoke-filled rooms.
By PETER KADZIS | December 08, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

Kids In The Hall

A growing batch of young, progressive City Councilors is making the much-derided body relevant again
Boston City Hall politics, normally a year-round spectator sport, was largely overshadowed this year by state and national campaigns. With the attention off, a surprising amount of activity has been going on — not in the mayor's office, but down the corridor in the Boston City Council.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | November 10, 2010

The persecution rests

Turnergate
Charles Dickens believed that the law is an ass. Well, he might have been right: last week's federal-court conviction of six-term Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner on bribery charges certainly seems to support that theory.
By PETER KADZIS AND HARVEY SILVERGLATE | November 05, 2010

Trail of jeers

Forget Paul Revere. This summer, treat yourself to a tour of Boston's worst in political corruption.
As summer officially kicks off this weekend, thousands upon thousands of people will be descending on our fair metropolis to get a glimpse of America's most history-drenched city.
By LAWRENCE ''HUGGY'' BERGMAN | June 26, 2010

The Battle of Mission Hill

Town-versus-gown tempers are boiling over near the Northeastern campus, as residents charge the giant school with 'death by incrementalism'
Oftentimes, inner-city dwellers who have to routinely phone police about disorderly neighbors fear retribution from gangbangers or drug dealers.
By CHRIS FARAONE | June 15, 2010

Oil, oil, everywhere

BP’s latest eco-crime; City Council Pres. Mike Ross does the right thing; Scott Brown disappoints
It is not enough that British Petroleum’s wounded oil well in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico continues to bleed millions of gallons of viscous crude oil, killing marshes that could offer protection from future hurricanes, destroying habitats for migrating birds, fouling coastal commercial-fishing grounds.
By EDITORIAL | May 26, 2010

The war over peace

A decade after the 'Boston Miracle,' violent crime has again overtaken parts of the city. Can the miracle makers create a new peace?
In the early infancy of this five-week-old year, Boston has been rocked by four homicides and 10 non-fatal shootings. By the time this goes to print, there may well be more.
By CHRIS FARAONE | February 05, 2010

Boston teen in Haiti stranded without a country

Lost
Jenny Ulysee was inside her stepmother's hair salon in Mariani, Haiti, when the January 12 earthquake caused a nearby building to buckle and collapse onto the roof of her family's business.
By CHRIS FARAONE | January 27, 2010

Green school. Red light?

At-large City Councilor John Connolly sets his sights on creating multi-million-dollar environmental academy.
Little girls and boys frolic on swing sets whittled from recycled beech wood.
By CHRIS FARAONE | January 06, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

For Mayor: Vote Flaherty + Yoon

Boston District City Council: Henriquez, Ross, ciommo, LaMattina
Boston’s mayoral candidates are running campaigns that are variations on a theme.
By EDITORIAL | November 04, 2009

Knight of night life

Taking on Boston’s biggest bully
The most feared man in Boston isn’t a crazy-eyed killer or a brutal street thug — he’s an elected official. Evidence? When was the last time you heard a disgruntled Boston businessperson publicly criticize Mayor Tom Menino?
By CHRIS FARAONE | October 26, 2009

Burn, baby, burn

The Olympics, zipper-gate, stimulus money, and why Coakley must investigate City Hall
The Phoenix opposed President Barack Obama's efforts to help Chicago win the 2016 Summer Olympics on the grounds that doing business with the International Olympic Committee is always bad news for the host community.
By EDITORIAL | October 07, 2009

Preliminary findings

Handicapping the 15-headed horse race that is Boston's at-large City Council election
Even knowledgeable City Hall insiders know they're better off scratching lotto tickets than wagering on Boston politics.
By CHRIS FARAONE | August 12, 2009

Yoon or Flaherty

Who will win the chance to challenge Menino?
Boston voters will go to the polls in less than seven weeks to choose two candidates, out of the four now running, to face off against each other in November's mayoral election.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | August 20, 2009

Who's next?

What the Banner 's closure means for Boston's African-Americans
If Melvin B. Miller has his way, last week's shutdown of the Bay State Banner — the African-American-focused weekly paper Miller ran as editor and publisher for nearly half a century — won't be the end.
By ADAM REILLY | July 21, 2009

The 12th Annual Muzzle Awards

A look at the dishonorable enemies of free speech and personal liberty in New England.
With the era of repression and secrecy fostered by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney finally over, this should be the best of times for freedom of expression, open government, and civil liberties. Yet change comes slowly.
By DAN KENNEDY | July 10, 2009

Massholes

A timeline of modern-day state house corruption
Scandal and accusations of corruption are nothing new to Massachusetts state government. Hutchinson was accused of enforcing the much-despised Stamp Act and Tea Act in part because his brother-in-law was stamp master, and two of his sons were designated tea consignees.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | June 17, 2009

Swan song for Southie?

As circumstances have changed for Irish Bostonians, the political talent pool in South Boston has dried up. Plus, voting a black slate?
South Boston is famous for producing politicians the way Detroit is known for manufacturing automobiles.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | April 22, 2009

Blackballed

If Chuck Turner is innocent, why is he aligning himself with a coterie of disreputable African-American leaders?
Turner might want to avoid hitching his fortunes to those of such utterly disreputable pols as former DC mayor Marion Barry, ex-Newark mayor Sharpe James, and Dianne Wilkerson.
By CHRIS FARAONE | March 10, 2009

Black History Month lands on City Hall

Panther Party
Members of Boston's Black Ministerial Alliance might resent New Black Panther Party soldier Jamarhl Crawford for his persistently blasting them as crooks and opportunists.
By CHRIS FARAONE | February 25, 2009