Caren Turner
Born1957 (age 66–67)
NationalityAmerican
Education
OccupationCEO of Turner Government & Public Affairs
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseHenry Fishman (m. 1984 div. unknown)[1]
Children2[2]

Caren Zeldie[1] Turner (born 1957) is a former United States Democratic lobbyist and formerly served as one of several unpaid commissioners for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. She resigned from her position in 2018 after a video showed her berating and attempting to influence police officers at a traffic stop and announcing she was a "friend of the mayor."[3]

Early life and education

Turner was born in 1957 to Bernard and Joyce Turner. Her father was an attorney who served on the Board of Education in Cresskill, New Jersey, and she has one sibling, a brother, Stuart Turner.[4] Turner is from New Jersey[5] and received her juris doctor from Georgetown Law, where she served as an 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.[6] Turner has sat on the Georgetown Law Alumni Board.[7]

Career

The former commissioner is also a political consultant and the founder and CEO of Turner Government & Public Affairs, a government affairs firm.[8][9] As a political consultant she has worked for companies that manufacture parts for Lockheed Martin fighter jets.[10][11] She was an attorney with Potomac Law Group[12][13] and a former adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.[6]

Turner served on the finance committees for Jon Corzine and Hillary Clinton.[14] She was a co-chair of the Financial Committee for Ready for Hillary, a super political action committee created to draft Clinton for the 2016 United States Presidential Election.[15][16]

Turner has been featured on Fox Business as a correspondent on Washington lobbying,[8][17] and wrote articles for The Huffington Post.[18] She has appeared on television channels such as Fox Business Network as a government lobbyist expert.[19]

In March 2017, Turner began a six-year unpaid term on the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,[3][20] after New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg recommended her, Governor Chris Christie nominated her, and the New Jersey State Senate approved.[3][21]

Traffic stop incident

In 2018, Turner was heavily criticized for her behavior at a traffic stop by police in Tenafly, New Jersey.[22] Police had stopped a vehicle that contained Turner's adult daughter, who had been traveling with friends.[23] After police discovered the vehicle's registration was two years out of date and the driver did not have an insurance card, they moved to impound it.[23] Turner arrived soon after to pick up her daughter and the other occupants of the impounded car 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", demanding 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."[23][24][25]

New Jersey police released videotape of the interaction which quickly went viral on YouTube.[26][25] The incident was nationally reported by CBS News, CNBC, and The New York Times, among others.[25][27][23] Intense criticism of Turner followed, with the New Jersey Star Ledger writing that she was "unencumbered by clue" [sic] while a commentator for the Today Show described her as having "all the tact and manners of a zoo animal at feeding time."[28][29] Some came to Turner's defense, including lawyer Donald Scarinci, who questioned the swift condemnation of Turner.[30]

She resigned from the Port Authority a week after the video emerged.[23]

Following Turner's resignation, Port Authority chair Kevin O'Toole issued an official apology to the Tenafly police officers involved in the incident.[22] Turner was given an official censure by the Port Authority, which described her behavior as "outrageous and profoundly disturbing."[22] In the earlier statement of apology released by Turner, she had asserted that her actions did not constitute a violation of the code of ethics.[26] Nevertheless, six months following the incident, as part of a consent order in which Turner acknowledged her actions could be seen as her seeking a special benefit, she was fined $1,500 by the Ethics Commission.[31][32][33]

Legacy

The Record named the traffic stop one of North Jersey's twelve "biggest moments of 2018."[34] Turner's actions at the traffic stop led to the introduction of legislation in New Jersey to eliminate law enforcement-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."[35]

Since the incident, according to The Daily Dot, Turner has "faded into the woodwork".[36]

References

  1. ^ a b "August Wedding for Miss Turner". The New York Times. January 29, 1984.
  2. ^ "Bernard Turner Obituary - Hackensack, NJ".
  3. ^ a b c Ted Sherman (April 23, 2018). "Port Authority cites 'profoundly disturbing' conduct in resignation of commissioner". NorthJersey.com. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  4. ^ "Bernard Turner Obituary - Hackensack, NJ". Dignity Memorial. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  5. ^ Max Pizarro (July 17, 2008). "Hillraiser Turner considers the McCain option". PolitickerNJ. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  6. ^ a b "Prof. Caren Turner". George Washington University. Archived from the original on May 17, 2016.
  7. ^ "LAB Board Members – Georgetown Law". Georgetown University. Archived from the original on February 2, 2015. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  8. ^ a b "The State of Government Lobbying". Fox Business. May 7, 2011. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  9. ^ Andrea Shalal-Esa (September 19, 2012). "A comedown for America's defense lobby". Reuters. Archived from the original on October 16, 2013. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  10. ^ "A comedown for America's defense lobby". Reuters. September 19, 2012.
  11. ^ "A comedown for America's defense lobby". Reuters. September 19, 2012.
  12. ^ "Caren Z. Turner – Potomac Law Group". Potomac Law Group. Archived from the original on February 3, 2015. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  13. ^ "FindLaw – Caren Z. Turner". FindLaw. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  14. ^ Friedman, Matt (February 27, 2017). "Christie nominates retiring senator, CEO of public affairs firm to Port Authority board". Politico. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  15. ^ Klein, Rick (July 30, 2013). "Ready for Hillary PAC Reports Seven-Figure Cash Haul". ABC News. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  16. ^ Catalina Camia (May 28, 2013). "Major Democratic donors join pro-Hillary super PAC". USA Today. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  17. ^ Andrea Shalal-Esa (November 10, 2012). "Hewson's long Lockheed journey ends at the top". Fox Business. Archived from the original on February 3, 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  18. ^ The Huffington Post. "UPDATES FROM Caren Z. Turner". The Huffington Post. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  19. ^ "The State of Government Lobbying".
  20. ^ Matt Arco (March 13, 2017). "Christie Nominates Longtime Loyalist to Port Authority Board". NJ.com. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
  21. ^ John Reitmeyer (March 23, 2017). "Pushing to Keep Trump Budget Cuts From Derailing NJ Mass-Transit Projects". NJ Spotlight. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
  22. ^ 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.
  23. ^ a b c d e McGeehan, Patrick (April 26, 2018). "Port Authority Censures Former Commissioner Who Berated Police". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 27, 2018. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
  24. ^ Friedman, Matt (April 24, 2018). "Port Authority ethics official cursed cop, demanded he call her 'Commissioner'". Politico. Archived from the original on April 25, 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  25. ^ 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.
  26. ^ 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.
  27. ^ "Video shows Port Authority official who abruptly resigned cursing at officers". CBS News. April 25, 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  28. ^ Schwern, Greg (May 1, 2018). "Mom's Gone Viral...and That's Not Good". Today (U.S. TV program). Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  29. ^ "Hats off to Tenafly cops. Good riddance to Caren Turner". Newark Star Ledger. April 25, 2018. Archived from the original on April 26, 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  30. ^ "Is the Rush to Judge Ex-Port Authority Commissioner Caren Turner Unfair?". observer.com. May 3, 2018.
  31. ^ Friedman, Matt (October 26, 2018). "Former Port Authority commissioner fined $1,500 over profanity-laced rant". Politico. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  32. ^ Ted Sherman (April 27, 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 April 27, 2018. Retrieved May 3, 2018. The matter was also referred to the state Ethics Commission.
  33. ^ Consent order
  34. ^ Maag, Christopher (December 27, 2018). "'That was this year?!' A look back at all the things you forgot happened in 2018". The Record. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  35. ^ Friedman, Matt (July 27, 2018). "Caren Turner incident leads senators to propose eliminating police-style badges for officials". Politico. Archived from the original on October 30, 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  36. ^ Bonfiglio, Nahila (March 23, 2021). "Throwback Karen: Police commissioner caught on camera bullying the cops". Daily Dot. Retrieved September 13, 2021.

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