Paul H. Turner

Commissioner Paul H. Turner "is a community relations and development officer for Citibank. He has over 15 years of experience as a local, state and national leader in civic engagement, election reform and economic development policy.

"Turner served as the 5 years at the Greenlining Institute, a Berkeley-based nonprofit with a mission to empower disadvantaged groups, where he advised community and civil rights groups, corporate leaders and others, while framing campaign finance reform as a civil rights issue.

"As the senior program manager and national director of the Greenlining Institute’s Claiming Our Democracy Program, Turner has been a national advocate for open, honest and accountable government through same-day voter registration, full public campaign financing of elections, independent redistricting commissions and instant run-off voting, among other reforms.

"Assisting with the passage of the landmark Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (McCain-Feingold Act), Turner was part of the advocacy coalition submitting amicus curiae briefs to the US Supreme Court on the bill’s behalf.

"Turner began his career as community economic development coordinator for the Union Rescue Mission on Skid Row in Los Angeles. He then helped establish the West Angeles Community Development Corporation in South LA, a non-profit development group affiliated with the 20,000-member West Angeles Church of God in Christ. Serving as Director of Economic Development from 1994 to 1998, Turner helped make the West Angeles CDC into one of the largest and most effective faith-based community development organizations in America.

"Turner was appointed to the City Ethics Commission by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to succeed Robert M. Saltzman, who was appointed by the Mayor to the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners. Because Turner is serving out the remainder of Saltzman's five year term, ending June 30, 2010, he will be eligible for a full five-year reappointment to the Commission at that time."


 * President, Save Africa's Children