Todd M. Turner was first elected in 2005 and re-elected in 2007 to represent the 3rd Council District. In December 2007, he was selected to serve as the Mayor Pro Tem, the first African American to hold the title in the City’s history. The 3rd District includes the following communities: Allen Pond, Bowie Commons, Covington, Enfield Chase, Ensleigh, Essington, Evergreen Estates, Heather Hills, Heather Ridge, Longleaf, Longridge, North Oak, Northview, Oak Pond, Old Stage Knolls, Palisades, Princeton Square, Vistas, Westview, Woodmore Estates & Woodmore Highlands communities.
Council Member Turner’s community activities in Bowie included his former service as Co-Chair of the City of Bowie’s Diversity Committee, as a member of the City of Bowie Strategic Plan focus group, as former Secretary of the Citizens Association of South Bowie and past President of the Covington Recreation Association, a 1,100 home subdivision. In the County, Mr. Turner serves on the Planning and Development Board of the Prince George’s County YMCA and the Advisory Board on the Prince George’s Progressive Institute, Inc. He formerly served on the Community Advisory Committee to the County’s Redevelopment Authority. He is a member of the Heather Hills Elementary School PTO, the Greater Bowie Chamber of Commerce, the Sons of the American Legion, Post 66 and has volunteered for the Bowie Emergency Aid Fund and the annual Christmas in April program.
Council Member Turner is currently employed as a Legislative Officer for the Prince George’s County Council. Between 2003 and 2006 Mr. Turner held the position of Director of Constituent Services for Prince George’s County Council Member Douglas J.J. Peters (D-4th District), where he was responsible for constituent services, community outreach and media relations. During 2002 he served as a Special Assistant in the Office of the Maryland State Senate President Thomas Mike V. Miller, Jr. (D-27th District) as a legislative analyst with the Senate Committee responsible for oversight on education, health and environmental legislative issues before the Maryland General Assembly.
Prior to moving to the County, Council Member Turner served as Legislative Counsel to the N.Y.C. Council’s Committee on Economic Development, where he was responsible for the Council’s legislative priorities and for reviewing the City’s economic development policies and programs. He also served as Director of Staten Island Community Relations for then New York State Senator Vincent J. Gentile, where he was responsible for constituent services, community outreach and special events. Council Member Turner began his legal career as an Assistant Corporation Counsel with the Office of the Corporation Counsel for the City of New York, where he represented the City in civil litigation in State and Federal courts. Prior to attending law school, Council Member Turner worked as a paralegal with the Civil Division of the Legal Aid Society and completed a Graduate Scholars summer internship program in the Office of the Mayor of City of New York.
Council Member Turner is a graduate of the City University of New York School Law at Queens College (C.U.N.Y.). While in C.U.N.Y., he was a recipient of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund's Earl Warren Scholarship, a Bronx County Black Bar Association scholarship and he held intern several positions, including with the Office of the NYC Comptroller (as a grant recipient from J.P. Morgan), the N.Y.C. Office of Management and Budget, and the Community and Economic Development Unit of Brooklyn Legal Services. Council Member Turner is admitted to the bar in New York, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Council Member Turner is a graduate of Lafayette College of Easton, Pennsylvania with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Government & Law and minor in History, where he was a member the Dean's List, the national History Honors Society and was a four-year recipient of the "Say Hey" Willie Mays Scholarship. He is a graduate of Staten Island’s Curtis High School, where he received a Regents Diploma and was a former Staten Island Advance all-star in football.
Council Member Turner, the youngest of three children of Ms. Diana Turner and the late Roland Turner, was born and raised in New York City. He and his wife, Anita Gauhar Turner, also an attorney, reside in the Longleaf section of Bowie with their two daughters – Rachel and Maya.
Council Member Turner serves as the Council liaison to the Community Recreation Committee.
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