Posted on 01/11/2011 2:07:17 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
The bizarre death of Progress Energy lobbyist Ashley Turton was announced Monday by the company and the fire Authorities. Turton is the wife of White House deputy director of legislative affairs Dan Turton.
The Washington D.C Fire Department said Turton’s body was discovered in a car that has been burning in their garage located near the U.S. Capitol. No other person was injured in the fire which was quickly put out by firefighters called to the scene at around 5 a.m.
The fire department is considering the possibility that there was a crash involving the vehicle. Authorities said her death appears to have resulted from “a low-speed crash, an unknown medical condition, the fire, or some combination of the three,” The Washington Post reported.
“Ashley was a valued employee whose insight and hard work had been critical on so many of our legislative and regulatory issues,” said Bill Johnson, chief executive and president of Progress Energy.
The 37-year old Turton, who preciously worked for Democratic Representative Rosa Delauro of Connecticut, joined Progress Energy in 2007. The company is concerned about the Congressional developments in climate change, carbon emissions and other issues involving the environment.
Turton is known as the other half of a power couple, the two having been included in an article on White House aides married to lobbyists. The couple have three children all of whom are below five years old.
She is officially a regulatory analyst for Progress Energy which is a utility company based in North Carolina. The company was in the news recently due to a possible merger with Duke Energy amounting to $13.7 billion.
this certainly is weird
Remember Barbara Wise?
No no I saw a quip about it on CNN few moments ago, they are going with the BMW is faulted in some way. They have a call into the BMW dealers to see if there is a recall or something defective with the type in the case. Seriously! NO JOKE.
There certainly is something weird about this story, but let’s not get tin-foil at this point. She left behind three very young children and this could simply be a tragic accident, medical emergency, family dispute, etc.
” The couple have three children all of whom are below five years old.”
Now sad. Prayers for the family. Hopefully things will be sorted out.
Was talk radio or Sarah Palin involved?
>> family dispute <<
Maybe she was making a “Tiger Woods” exit from the home? Except that she forgot to put the car in reverse, then crashed into the garage wall and ignited a propane tank?
Yeah, I put “family dispute” in my list because I believe that is far more likely than some sort of sinister political motive, although I honestly think that is very, very unlikely. Her company was working on finalizing a multi-billion dollar merger over that weekend - she knew she needed to get to the office really, really early because the Duke Energy deal was being announced. I suspect it’s going to be some sort of wrong pedal pushed, medical emergency (she certainly would have been feeling stress/lack of sleep, etc.), shot by a neighborhood punk, etc. rather than anything else.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2655128/posts#6
Excerpt:
Here is a thread on some speculation on this and the recent death of Ashley Turton, wife of an energy lobbyist.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2654435/posts
C’mon - Progress is the target of the merger, not the acquiror. Unless she somehow was standing in the way (”No don’t do this - I’m a Democrat lobbyist, worked for a Democrat on Capitol Hill and have just started working in the private sector, but I’m going to fall on my sword on this one!”), you guys are off on a tangent. Can we wait for the autopsy results before putting on the tin-foil? Her job and her husband’s connection to the WH is going to be about a 99% chance of being irrelevant here. I’ll take the tragic accident/street violence/domestic dispute angles over the political angle all day long.
Expensive car, expensive home, well-paid husband — but mom still works a lobbyist. Why not home full-time with her three extremely young children?
Progress Energy and Duke Energy are now working on a merger.
Duke Energy is based in Charlotte NC. However, this story has been wrapped in fish paper, beginning to stink. May you rest in peace, Ashley
So she puts the car in reverse and backs out. She couldn't have been going very fast. The car didn't even make it all the way into the garage, assuming she was entering. If she was, what was she doing coming home at 5 am?
Very fishy story. Cars don't usually just catch fire and people in stationary burning cars don't usually stay inside of them.
Forgot something. If she was backing out and the car caught fire, why didn’t she maneuver her way out? Even a panicked person should have been able to figure this out. Also, she could have leaned on the horn, at least letting people know she was in trouble if she couldn’t get out.
Will this be investigated by the Parking Garage Police?
Sounds a little thin to me.
Because she probably didn’t do any actual work. She “represented” them due to her contacts. It’s all a giant con and the parasites get their family members postions at lobbyists or whatever and they get a nice salary from the company wanting to buy influence.
Sorry, “as” lobbyists.
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