Robert L. Turner (born May 2, 1941) is an American businessman and politician who served as the United States representative for New York's 9th congressional district (containing parts of Brooklyn and Queens) from 2011 to 2013.

[2] In 2012, after his congressional district was eliminated in redistricting, Turner ran for the United States Senate but was defeated in the primaries.

[1] In addition, Turner reorganized and redirected the successful program Baywatch and launched new versions of the game shows Family Feud and To Tell the Truth.

Gannett ended Rush Limbaugh's television show and Turner's 24-hour news talk station, the All-Talk Channel.

[15][16][17] In 1996, Multimedia Entertainment was sold to MCA/Universal Studios[18] He has also been President of LBS Communications, a division of Grey Advertising, where he created a daytime "barter network" for the distribution and syndication of the series Family and Fame.

[1] He served as Director of Advertising for Bristol-Myers Company, where he began the production of the Leonard Nimoy series, In Search of..., and was the first General Manager of CBS Cable.

[1] He sat on several Boards of Directors, including Readspeak Inc., Liberty Imaging Inc., the Achilles Track Club and Family Focus Adoption Services.

[1] Turner first ran for Congress in November 2010 against Anthony Weiner in New York's ninth congressional district, losing in a 60–40 split.

[20] Following the resignation of Anthony Weiner, Turner ran for the vacant seat in a special election held on September 13, 2011—beating his Democratic opponent, David Weprin, by a margin of more than 4,000 votes.

[25] Turner, according to the New York Times, "aggressively courted observant Jewish voters",[26] and painted Weprin as a puppet of President Obama, who would not stand up for Israel.

[26] The Democratic Party contributed heavily to Weprin in the last weeks of the race, as Turner's odds of winning increased.

[33] Turner's win was publicized as a large upset victory, and made national headlines because Democrats outnumbered Republicans by 3-to-1 in the district.

[37] However, Salon's claims were questioned by some as Obama had won the district in 2008 by 11 points and Kerry by 12 in 2004, which did not seem to imply a strong conservative swing.

[24][43] He opposed what Democrats said were Republican plans to privatize Medicare and Social Security and turn Medicaid into a block-grant program, reportedly at the request of former New York mayor Ed Koch, who supported him.

[45] One month before the election, Turner admitted that an op-ed he written for the National Review calling for a one third reduction in federal spending and "an end to government dependencies" was "blatant pandering" to "a particular audience".

[7] Turner met with his former rival, Anthony Weiner, discussing open constituent files and issues facing the district, including noise pollution and eroding beaches.

[49] Turner expressed support for hydrofracking in upstate New York, and would allow states to opt out of No Child Left Behind.

[52] In November 2011, a protester affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement shouted during Turner's ceremonial swearing-in.

[53] Turner then criticized the OWS demonstrators as socialist and praised America's capitalist system as a "beacon to the world".

[53] Turner voted for Paul Ryan's revised budget plan in 2012,[54] despite reluctance that it would privatize Medicare and Social Security.

[23][25] Turner introduced The TEACH Act of 2012, which would provide a federal tax credit of up to $5,000 per year to families who send their children to non-public K-12 schools.

[57] His proposal received wide support from the Orthodox Union,[58] Yeshiva congregations in Queens,[59] and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn.

Obama to challenge Iran for its nuclear armament policies[66] Turner pushed for strict economic sanctions on the Iranian Central Bank, and criticized Sen. Harry Reid for stalling H.R.

[67][68] Brooklyn Daily opined that the assignments would not allow Turner to make use of his business experience and offered little opportunity for him to deliver on his promises of bringing "fiscal sanity" to Washington.

's mother, Rosemary Holmstrom, had been on daytime talk shows in the 1980s discussing the death of her husband from AIDS and her own HIV-positive status.