I knew I knew that name from somewhere and I did feel like I recognized the man from the conspiro-blogosphere. Isn't he that shitbag that keeps coming up in conversations about right-wing associations (i.e. "why is it okay for Holocaust denier Hal Turner to go on Hannity's show for an hour but it is wrong for Barack Obama to sit on the Anneberg board with Bill Ayers?"):
Harold "Hal" Turner is an American white nationalist and white supremacist from North Bergen, New Jersey. He ran his program, The Hal Turner Show, as a webcast from his home once a week and depended on donations by his listeners. He quit the show in July 2008 for good. In August his website also closed down though he retains a blog.
Early career
Identifying himself as "Hal from North Bergen", Turner became notable in American conservative circles as a frequent caller to WABC-AM radio talk shows hosted by Bob Grant and Sean Hannity.[4] Turner parlayed this fame into a role as the northern New Jersey coordinator for Patrick J. Buchanan's 1992 presidential campaign. He went on to serve as campaign manager for Libertarian Party candidate Murray Sabrin in New Jersey in the 1990s, including a 1997 gubernatorial campaign.[5]
Turner reportedly established a friendship with Sean Hannity, on whose program he was a frequent presence.[4] However, when confronted by the New Black Panther Party's Malik Zulu Shabazz about his association with Turner (in light of Hannity's scrutiny of Barack Obama's association with Jeremiah Wright), Hannity at first denied knowing Turner, then said he had banned Turner from his radio station, and that he never supported Turner's views. Turner subsequently posted this response on his website: "I was quite disappointed when Sean Hannity at first tried to say he didn't know me. In fact, Sean does know me and we were quite friendly a few years ago."[6][7]
Turner became a talk radio host, joining fellow regular callers Frank from Queens and John from Staten Island to start the program The Right Perspective. Turner left the program in 2002, citing artistic differences. In 2002, Turner became a solo host, purchasing a time slot on shortwave radio station WBCQ, over which he broadcast for approximately four years. He gave up this show on WBCQ on March 22, 2004 for a few reasons: financial support from the listening audience had faded,[8][9], the owner of the station Allan Weiner was Jewish, Turner had health problems,[10] and his personal financial condition was deteriorating. This led to the temporary closure of his website and show.[11].
2000 Congressional election
In the 2000 US congress election, Turner sought, but did not receive, the Republican Party nomination for election to the United States Congress from New Jersey's 13th congressional district, losing to Theresa de Leon.[12][13] Turner has identified himself as the "Chairman of the Republican Party of Hudson County, NJ Corp," a group which has no connection to the official Hudson County Republican Party recognized by the state and national party. According to news reports, Hudson County Republican officials have stated that Turner's party is a "paper corporation with little or no membership".[14]
Rally against violence
In response to an October 7, 2005, assault against a white student by a black student at Kingston High School, Turner, working with the white nationalist group National Vanguard, organized a rally which he called a "rally against violence".[15] The case resulted in the perpetrator being indicted as an adult with two felony counts: assault and attempted assault.[16][17] He characterized the rally both as "pro-white" and "against violence".[18][19] The victim's mother chose not to attend the rally.[18] In response, local residents, including political and religious leaders, organized a number of "Unity Rallies" with a tolerance theme.[20] When the rally occurred on November 19, 2005, Turner and the National Vanguard attracted approximately 50 demonstrators, compared to the 100 counter-demonstrators.[21]
Jaime Vazquez encounter
On April 12, 2006, Turner had a physical altercation with Jaime Vazquez, a former Jersey City Deputy Mayor and member of the Jersey City Council who was the Jersey City Commissioner of Veterans Affairs at the time. The North Bergen Reporter quoted Turner as saying "(t)he illegal immigrants are breaking the law, and people like me should break the law as well by shooting them down." In response, Vasquez picketed with a sign reading "Hal Turner -- shoot me! Racists and bigots like you are cowards."[22] Vazquez suffered a back injury and a fractured wrist. Turner and Vazquez later filed criminal charges against each other. On July 16, 2006 North Bergen Municipal Court Judge Joseph Romano found both men to be equally credible and thus neither criminally liable.[23]
Threats against judges and political figures
In 2005, Turner publicized the names of three federal court judges who handled lawsuits involving Matt Hale.[24] Turner posted the judges' names and addresses on his Web site.[24][25]
On December 6, 2006, Turner announced on his website:
We may have to ASSASSINATE some of the people you elect on Nov. 7! This could be your LAST ELECTION CHANCE, to save this Republic... Sorry to have to be so blunt, but the country is in mortal danger from our present government and our liberty is already near dead because of this government. If you are too stupid to turn things around with your vote, there are people out here like me who are willing to turn things around with guns, force and violence. We hope our method does not become necessary.[26]
Since the announcement was made, Turner has had difficulties finding a host for his website. He alleged that his website has been the target of denial of service attacks, and subsequently filed a pro se lawsuit.[27][28][29]
On April 4, 2008, Turner encouraged violence against Lexington, Massachusetts school superintendent Paul Ash for establishing a new curriculum supporting gays and lesbians. On his website, he stated:
I advocate parents using FORCE AND VIOLENCE against Superintendent Paul B. Ash as a method of defending the health and safety of school children presently being endangered through his politically-correct indoctrination into deadly, disease-ridden sodomite lifestyles.[30] [emphasis his]
He went on to provide Ash's personal information, including his address.
Anonymous website raid
According to Turner, in December 2006 and January 2007, individuals who identified themselves as Anonymous took Turners' website offline, and cost him thousands of dollars in bandwidth bills. He retaliated by sending a "formal legal notice of criminal activity in violation of several federal laws" by email to 7chan, multacom, and multicom, as well as redirecting his domain to 420chan.org, causing that site to take a bandwidth hit as well.[31][32][33] He also sued 4chan, 7chan, and other websites in court over copyright infringement. However, he lost his plea for an injunction and failed to receive letters from the court.[34]
Informant allegations
Allegations that Turner acts as an informant to the FBI surfaced after unidentified hackers claimed on Turner's website's forums that they had read email correspondence between him and an FBI agent, apparently his handler.[35] This led to a discussion on a neo-Nazi website on January 10, 2008, in which Turner revealed he was quitting political work, was ending his radio show and that he was separating "from the 'pro-White' movement".[35] Both the FBI and Turner declined to comment on the matter.[35] The Southern Poverty Law Center later reported that they had "revealed... that Turner was an FBI informant"[36] and the Anti-Defamation League reported that "a neo-Nazi Website had posted material reportedly found by the hackers, including alleged exchanges between himself and law enforcement agents that indicated that Turner had been providing information to them."[37]
Turner has often made news for his extreme right-wing views. He promotes antisemitism (including rounding up and killing Jews)[1] and opposes the existence of the state of Israel.[2] He also denies the Holocaust.[3] In 2005, Turner organized what he billed as a "rally against violence" after a white student was beaten by a black student at a high school. In 2006, he got in a fight with Jaime Vazquez, a former Jersey City deputy mayor, after Vazquez called him a racist coward. Turner has made numerous threats against political figures on his website and in other forums.
Author
