Recently we received a letter from City Councilor Chuck Turner in response to both an article penned by Adam Reilly and a blog post by Chris Faraone. Turner — who was arrested in November for reportedly accepting a $1000 bribe — asked that we publish his letter in its entirety. We have done so below (save for his written request that we not tamper with his note). Note: in his letter, he refers repeatedly to links. They are news stories to which Faraone linked to counter a Turner claim.
During my nine years as a City Councilor, I have learned that there is very little I can do realistically about whether the media gives me coverage or not. I have also realized that there is very little I can do or say regardless of the truth or accuracy or their reporting or columns.
However, I decided to use the extensive media coverage I am receiving to point out the irony that the media only writes stories on me when they want to attack. I expected some to strike back. It is foolish to poke a big bear and not expect the bear to try to take your head off.
While I was confident I could handle whatever attacks came back, I expected there would at least be some substance to their attack. However, the attack by Mr. Faraone was so ridiculous that I said to myself, Why bother responding? Anyone who follows the links will see that he was either drunk or so enraged by what I said that he lost his ability to reason, or perhaps with his assumption I was not telling the truth he didn’t bother to read the links himself.
However, when I saw this week that Adam Reilly was using Mr. Faraone’s piece as if it met journalistic standards, I sent an e-mail yesterday asking him to follow the links so that he would see that he made himself appear as foolish as Mr. Faraone by validating what can only be seen as journalistic trash bordering on lying. . . .
I am writing to you for several reasons:
1) To make sure that you follow the links so you can assess the article yourself;
2) If after you see the links, you agree you print my letter in its entirety; and
3) If after looking at the links you agree with him, I would appreciate your letting me know why you think it was appropriate for him to reference links, which at most had fleeting references to me. If you look at the first Globe link he references in relation to my saying that there have been no stories on my link to the BWA, you will see that it was a story on a BWA event. You will also see that while it mentioned I was at the event, it did not state that I had any relations to the BWA. In fact, it focused in the beginning on Darrin Howell, without mentioning that he is on my staff.
Sincerely,
Chuck Turner
Boston City Council
CHRIS FARAONE RESPONDS: As is so often the case, Councilor Turner subscribes to his own brand of reality. Readers interested in mine can check out my blog post “The Confident Chuck Turner Gets Arraigned” at thePhoenix.com/phlog.
Correction
In our recent piece on Elliott Carter’s 100th birthday, we refer to “young Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Kate Vincent.” Her name in fact is Kate Lindsey. We apologize for the error.
