James M. Turner (politician)

For other people named James M. Turner, see James M. Turner (disambiguation).

James M. Turner (November 8, 1928 – July 20, 1981) was an American Republican Party politician who served in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature, serving one term in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1970 to 1972, and in the New Jersey Senate from 1972 until he was forced to resign from office in June 1973, after being convicted for his role leading a conspiracy to place drugs in the home of a Democratic Party political rival. Despite being evicted from his seat, Turner ran a quixotic campaign to be elected to a second term in the Senate.

James M. Turner
Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from Legislative District 3B
In office January 13, 1970 – January 11, 1972 Serving with Francis J. Gorman
Preceded by	Leonard H. Kaser and Walter E. Pedersen
Succeeded by	Kenneth A. Gewertz and Francis J. Gorman
Member of the New Jersey Senate from Legislative District 3A
In office January 11, 1972 – June 28, 1973
Preceded by	John L. White
Succeeded by	District dissolved
Personal details
Born	(1928-11-08)November 8, 1928
Died	July 20, 1981(1981-07-20) (aged 52)
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Cynthia[1]
Residence	Woodbury, New Jersey
Occupation	Private detective

Public service

Before being elected to office in the state legislature, Turner served on the Gloucester County Board of Chosen Freeholders.^[2]

General Assembly

In the 1969 general election, Turner and his Republican running mate Thomas J. Shusted were elected to represent District 3B of the General Assembly, one of four pairs of representatives from the 3rd Legislative District, which was further divided into four Assembly districts (Districts 3A, 3B, 3C, and 3D); District 3B included portions of Camden and Gloucester counties.^[3][4]

State Senate

In the 1971 general election, Turner ran for Senate in District 3A and won by a margin of 11 votes over Democrat Louis J. Damminger.^[5] With Damminger trailing by 40 votes on election day, a recount was demanded which took until late December to certify the final 11-vote margin. The challenges that election officials encountered with the recount was one of the key factors convincing Gloucester County to announce in May 1974 that it was going to switch from paper ballots to a computerized system.^[6]

First Conviction

Turner was removed from the Senate on June 28, 1973, after being convicted for his role in a conspiracy in which a pair of bags filled with 6,500 amphetamine tablets were placed in the home of his Democratic Party rival Kenneth A. Gewertz by Turner's confederates, as part of an effort to destroy Gewertz's political career; with his conviction, Turner was barred from running for office or serving in any state office.^[1] Testimony from a Deputy Attorney General during the trial indicated that Turner had pressured him to conduct a police raid on Gewertz's home after bags containing the drug phendimetrazine had been planted in Gewertz's home by one of Turner's co-conspirators; the nature and urgency of the pleas – as well as Turner's certainty that drugs would be found – only raised suspicions and led to the conspiracy unraveling.^[7] Turner was sentenced to serve five years in prison.^[8]

After his sentencing on the charge of planting drugs on Gewertz, Turner stated that he had no intention of dropping out of the race, saying "I intend to win, and I expect the Senate to seat me", despite the probability that the Senate would deny him the right to serve in office, even if he won the seat.^[2] An appeal to a judge to remove Turner from the 1973 Republican Party primary failed and the official party organization ran a campaign to get voters to elect Gloucester County Sheriff Walter Fish through a write-in campaign. Despite his ban on serving in public office and being sentenced to serve five years in prison, Turner won a spot on the November ballot, with 5,545 votes, while Fish received 4,678 and Robert E. Boakes received 3,277 votes.^[9] Turner was defeated by Democrat Raymond Zane in the general election, but was still able to garner just over 20% of the vote.^[10][11]

Second Conviction

Turner was free on bail pending his appeal, which allowed him to run for office. But in August 1973, a grand jury indicted Turner again, this time on bribery charges, alleging that he had accepted $2,000 as part of an effort to use his connections with the state parole board to arrange parole for a prisoner serving a term of up to eight years.^[12]

References

1. Waggoner, Walter H. "Turner Convicted In Drug Conspiracy", The New York Times, June 29, 1973. Accessed September 22, 2016. "State Senator James M. Turner, a Gloucester County Republican, was found guilty today all three counts of conspiracy, bribery and giving false information to law enforcement officials in a plot to frame Assemblyman Kenneth A. Gewertz, a Democrat, on narcotics charges.... The indictment named as the co‐conspirators, but not defendants, Richard E. McDowell, a 47‐year‐old dealer in building supplies who was accused during the trial of dealing in 'hard cargoes as far away as Boston'; his 26‐year‐old son, Richard J., who has a record of two larceny arrests and is now out on parole, and Carl Yellin, 19, who was accused of actually hiding two bags of about 6,500 amphetamine‐type pills at the Gewertz home."
2. Staff. "A 2‐County G.O.P. Dilemma", The New York Times, October 14, 1973. Accessed September 22, 2016. "Turner maintains his innocence and, at his sentencing in State Superior Court here, he declared: 'I intend to win, and I expect the Senate to seat me.'"
3. New Jersey Senate and Assembly Districts, 1967–1971 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, New Jersey State Library. Accessed September 22, 2016. "Assembly District 3B shall include the following municipalities located in the county of Gloucester: borough of Clayton, township of Deptford, borough of Glassboro, township of Monroe, and township of Washington; and that portion of the county of Camden not included in Assembly District 3C and Assembly District 3D."
4. Results of the General Election Held on November 4, 1969 Archived July 7, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, Secretary of State of New Jersey. Accessed September 22, 2016.
5. Results of the General Election Held on November 2, 1971 Archived July 6, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, Secretary of State of New Jersey. Accessed September 22, 2016.
6. Sardella, Carlo M. "Gloucester to Try Computer Balloting", The New York Times, May 5, 1974. Accessed September 22, 2016. "The difficulties were pointed up in the 1971 general election for the State Senate, in which Louis Damminger, a Democrat, was defeated by James Turner, a Republican. The margin was only 40 votes. Mr. Damminger asked for a recount, which took until Christmas. The election result was affirmed although the winner's margin was reduced to 11 votes."
7. Waggoner, Walter H. "Turner Jury Told Raid was Ordered", The New York Times, June 19, 1973. accessed September 22, 2016. "A high state law enforcement official testified today that State Senator James M. Turner 'practically ordered' him to raid the home of Assemblyman Kenneth A. Gewertz last fall in search of drugs. Over the objection of Mr. Turner's lawyer to the description of the conversation, Deputy State Attorney General Robert Cowen said the legislator had made a 'frantic' telephone call to him late in October."
8. Sullivan, Joseph F. "Legislative Candidates Fighting Apathy", The New York Times, October 7, 1973. Accessed September 21, 2016. "Former Senator James M. Turner, Republican of Gloucester, is still in the race for a new term despite having been sentenced last week to five years in prison for attempting to frame Assemblyman Kenneth E. Gewertz, Gloucester of Democrat, on drug charges. Turner lost his Senate seat on his conviction in June, but has not lost his voting rights because he has not begun to serve his sentence, and he still has the right to run for office."
9. Results of the Primary Election Held on June 5, 1973 Archived December 5, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Secretary of State of New Jersey. Accessed September 22, 2016.
10. Edge, Wally. "Only two Senators from the 3rd district since '73, both elected after epic feuds", PolitickerNJ.com, February 7, 2009, backed up by the Internet Archive as of February 8, 2009. Accessed September 22, 2016. "Turner was removed from the Senate after his conviction, but refused to drop his bid for re-election to a second term in 1973. Gloucester County Republicans withdrew their endorsement and ran Sheriff Walter Fish as a write-in candidate after a Superior Court Judge rebuffed their bid to remove him from the ballot. Zane was an easy winner, and the big surprise was the more than 20% of the voters supported Turner's return to the Legislature."
11. Results of the General Election Held on November 6, 1973 Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Secretary of State of New Jersey. Accessed September 22, 2016.
12. Sullivan, Joseph F. "Turner is Indicted on Bribe Charges", The New York Times, August 16, 1973. Accessed September 22, 2016. "Former Senator James M. Turner, Republican of Gloucester, was indicted today by the statewide grand jury on charges of having accepted a bribe to try to arrange an early parole for a convicted bookmaker.... The jury has charged Turner with lying when he denied receiving $2,000 from Charles Lee of Woodbury—with the expectation of receiving more — to fix a parole for Earl C. Davis, also of Woodbury, who is serving a five-to-eight-year sentence in state prison."