Character assassination – Sedona style

by Cyndy Hardy

Sedona, AZ – February 28, 2008 - An alarming message of an alleged death threat posted on the YouTube Web site against Sedona mayoral candidate Matthew Turner has raised both concern and questions as the March 11, 2008 Sedona election quickly approaches.

Complicating and confusing matters further, someone sent a letter to Mr. Turner prior to the alleged death threat, suggesting that he drop out of the campaign for possible inappropriate activities. 

Mr. Turner is listed as the founder and a director of Green Sedona, Inc., a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization that incorporated on Aug. 31, 2007, according to Arizona Corporation Commission records.

On Feb. 22, Suzy Chaffee, a director of Green Sedona and candidate for one of Sedona's four-year City Council seats, announced in a written statement that Mr. Turner received an anonymous letter threatening both city candidates to “drop out of the election and leave town, or else.”

“Matthew then received a death threat,” Ms. Chaffee wrote, adding that the public would be shocked when the alleged perpetrator was revealed. Some people took this to mean the two alleged threats were related.

She sent her statement to an unknown number of email accounts and to local media outlets. Ms. Chaffee mentioned the threats in her candidate essay published in the major local newspaper, Sedona Red Rock News; and her complete statement was published on the Internet news site for the Sedona Verde Valley Times  –which has since removed the statement – and on the local community blogging website iSedona.com.

Mr. Turner received the anonymous letter at his post office box on Jan. 12, more than a month before Ms. Chaffee released the news, according to a Sedona Police Department report.

On Jan. 18, Sedona City Attorney Mike Goimarac contacted Mr. Turner about the alleged campaign violations.

On January 18, a video called “Matthew Turner Receives Award at the Hilton!” was uploaded to Mr. Turner’s matthewformayor profile on the popular social video networking site YouTube, after which time someone with the screen name wawbwc left a comment under the video, which Mr. Turner claims was a death threat.

The comment stated, “Do you trust your eyes? At the 'Search' type in "John F. Kennedy Assassination" from: Kareem4i. At frame 309 watch the limo driver. What do you see?” Following the link, one sees a video of the Kennedy assassination with comments alleging the limo driver was the second shooter.

The commenter’s YouTube profile shows that wawbwc is 50, joined YouTube on August 19, 2007, and has watched 1,865 videos on YouTube.  The profile also has musical video clips from Celtic Woman, and video links to various political videos and racially related bulletins.

Ms. Chaffee said in a telephone interview Feb. 27, “I didn’t look at the message. I didn’t want to see JFK with his head blown off.”

Eight major candidate forums took place between Jan. 24 and Feb. 20, according to a city of Sedona public notice. Ballots were sent out to Sedona voters on Feb. 21 for the mail-in election that takes place March 11.

Mr. Turner did not file a complaint with the local law agency until Feb. 5. Sometime during the three-week period between receiving the letter and making a complaint, Mr. Turner gave the evidence – the letter and the envelope – to a retired Tucson police officer, “an expert finger print examiner” who processed the evidence, according to the Sedona police report.   According to Mr. Turner, the reason for the three-week delay in filing the complaint was because it took approximately two weeks to process the fingerprints and another five days for mail time.

“I was advised by my attorney that it was best to go outside the area...,” Mr. Turner said on Feb. 28. “I found the finger print examiner on the Internet,” he said, adding that his attorney also advised him to first get the fingerprints and then present them to the Sedona police when they returned in the mail.

While the initial police report is public record, the letter is part of the ongoing police investigation and is not currently available to the public. It may become available if the case is closed by the end of this week, as some city officials expect.

In the police report, Mr. Turner alleged the letter was sent by Cliff Ochser, an active supporter of rival mayoral candidate, Rob Adams, because, according to Mr. Turner, it was determined that Mr. Ochser's fingerprints were on the letter.

Sedona Sgt. Lopez, the officer who wrote the initial report, stated that the letter contains allegations of Mr. Turner’s personal activities that the letter’s author is “going to use against Turner if he does not drop out of the Mayor race.”

“Someone gave me information that was the impetus for me to write that letter,” Mr. Ochser said in a telephone interview on Feb. 27. While Mr. Ochser denied making any threats, “I made it clear to him that it was inappropriate behavior for a mayoral candidate.”

This reporter will not reveal the details of Mr. Ochser’s allegations unless and until an agency takes an affirmative legal position. “I read the letter and it did not have any threatening content in it.” Mr. Lopez stated in his report.

Aside from his opinion about Mr. Turner’s personal activities, Mr. Ochser claims that Mr. Turner used his nonprofit organization, Green Sedona, to solicit campaign contributions for himself. “I found out about it because dozens of Keep Sedona Beautiful members got [fundraising emails],” Mr. Oschser said. Mr. Ochser is reportedly a KSB member.   According to Mr. Turner, "I used my email list from Vibrant Sedona which is not a 501c3 and I used [the email addresses] to invite people to a fundraiser and party to meet Suzy and I.  I was advised to purchase Green Sedona's emails just to make sure I was operating within the law, even though Green Sedona's emails all came from Vibrant Sedona originally."

Someone who received one of the emails from Green Sedona checked whether the Arizona Attorney General’s Office had issued an opinion on the matter, Mr. Ochser said. He forwarded by email a letter of opinion from the AG’s office, dated March 21, 1996, which cites Section 501 (c) (3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code that appears to prohibit  any political campaign, including publishing or distributing statements. The information was emailed to the city attorney, Mr. Ochser said.  

One of the reasons nonprofits get tax exemptions is because they forfeit the right to participate in political activity, Sedona City Attorney Mike Goimarac said in an interview Wednesday.

Mr. Goimarac contacted Mr. Turner on Jan. 18, according to the police report, informing the candidate of an anonymous email that requested he look into possible campaign violations. Mr. Goimarac also informed Mr. Turner that nonprofits are prohibited from engaging in political activity.

Mr. Turner said on Feb. 28 that he paid $100 to buy a list of emails from Green Sedona on Nov. 19, 2007 with money from his personal account. He said he did not yet have a campaign account and was not required to until he had met the State’s $500 threshold. “My attorney advised me to buy the list. He also told me the IRS wouldn't concern themselves with [the email issue] since they had bigger things to deal with.”

When asked if his personal account statement would show he purchased the list in November, Mr. Turner said, “Possibly. I’d have to look.”

The City does not enforce federal law, according to Mr. Goimarac, however it does enforce state campaign finance laws that concern city elected offices.

Preliminary campaign reports for the period Jan. 1 through February 20 are due by 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 29, according to City Clerk Cherry Lawson. The report should show the dates and amounts of campaign contributions Mr. Turner received prior to purchasing the email list from Green Sedona on Jan. 19.

According to Mr. Ochser, “Mr. Adams had nothing to do with the letter.  It was a personal communication between me and Mr. Turner and sent before I was actively involved with any of the political campaigns.” 

Editor's note:  This article has been revised from the original version published on February 28, 2008 based on updated information received post publication.

© 2008 Cyndy Hardy. Printed by permission. All rights reserved.

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