TennWatch/Volitics

Jury Says Ford Took the Money

After 2 1/2 days of jury deliberation, former state senator John Ford has been convicted of taking $55,000 in bribes.

The jury deadlocked on the more serious charge of extortion, and prosecutor David Kustoff says that the decision to retry Ford on that charge has not yet been made.

Ford gets to walk on three counts of witness intimidation, having been found not guilty of all three counts by the jury.

Kustoff's formal statement can be found here.

Sentencing of Ford was set for Tuesday, July 31, at 9 a.m.

Tamara Mitchell-Ford Arrested . . . Again

Tamara Mitchell-Ford spent the night in a Collierville jail last Tuesday:

The officer used the squad car's camera system to video the Jaguar as it swerved while traveling 20 mph in a 45 mph zone, the police report states.

After stopping the car, the officer reported smelling a strong odor of alcohol coming from Ford, hearing her slurred speech, having to support her during a field sobriety test, and finding a mostly empty bottle of vodka.

Mitchell-Ford refused to submit to a breath analysis, and act for which she was charged in addition to DUI, reckless driving and driving with an open container.

Mitchell-Ford is former state senator John Ford's ex-wife (John Ford is currently under indictment on charges stemming from the FBI's Tennessee Waltz sting), and aunt to Harold Ford, Jr.

This is not Mitchell-Ford's first brush with the law.

• In 2001, she rammed her car into the Collierville home of Connie Matthews, John Ford's long-time girlfriend. John Ford was living with both women at the time, spending some nights each week with Mitchell-Ford and her 3 children, other nights with Matthews and her 2 children. All five children are John Ford's.
• In 2004, she spent for 3 months in jail for traffic offenses and violating probation.
• In 2006, she spent another weekend in jail for violating probation.

She was released on Wednesday afternoon on $500 bond, but failed to report the incident to her parole officer so a warrant was issued for her arrest. She was arrested at her home Wednesday evening by Shelby County Sheriff's deputies for violating the terms of her parole.

Anyone see a pattern here?

Ford Family Tree

Newton (N.J.) and Vera Ford begat 15 children. Among them:

• Harold Ford, Sr., former federal representative. First Ford to enter the world of politics since the 1880s and now living in a mansion on an exclusive Florida beach. He was indicted in a federal bank fraud case, having written 388 bad checks totaling $552,447 at House bank between 1988 and 1991, but was acquitted in 1993 when a probe found "no criminal wrongdoing" on his part (even though he was one of the worst abusers). He decided not to run again in '96.
• John Ford, state Senator, currently under indictment on charges of bribery and extortion in the FBI’s Tennessee Waltz. Past brushes with the law include allegedly shooting at a trucker on I-40 (covered up by the TBI) and waving a gun at utility workers trying to fix damage from an ice storm in front of his house.
• Ophelia Ford, current state Senator whose first election was voided by the Senate when is was proven that a number of illegal votes were cast, including those of dead people. She had "won" by a margin of 13 votes.
• Emmitt Ford, former state representative, convicted of insurance fraud in 1981 and sentenced to 21 months in prison for tax evasion in 2000.
• Edmund Ford, currently chairman of the Memphis City Council.
• Dr. James Ford, now deceased. He was elected to the Memphis city council and the Shelby county commission.
• Joe Ford, currently serving on the County Commission. He was elected to the city council when brother James left to fill his seat on the county commission. Joe was appointed to the County Commission brother James died in 2001, and won "re-election" in 2002.

Harold Ford (Sr.) begat three sons:

• Harold Ford, Jr., who served as US Representative for the same district that his father served. He was raised in Washington, attended prep schools, and claimed his grandmother Vera was white during his failed run for Senate. [Note: she wasn't, but saying so sure pissed off the black community.]
• (Newton) Jake Ford, who recently tried to enter politics by running as an independent in the Steve Cohen/Mark White race for the seat brother Harold had vacated to run for Senate. His arrest record includes assault against his father in 1991, a subsequent bench warrant when he failed to appear in court, a 1993 charge of marijuana possession and a DUI in 1994. None of these cases went to trail and there is no felony record for the man.
• Sir Isaac, currently studying to be a doctor, has unsuccessfully run for Memphis City Council and Shelby County mayor. He voted in the voided victory of his aunt Ophelia because he claimed to live at the funeral home which is in the district, even though he really lives in a home he owns with his father in east Memphis. He served as campaign treasurer for brother Jake's unsuccessful run.

How is John Ford like Shrek?

Meanwhile in Memphis, ex-legislator John Ford, who is currently waiting trial for corruption charges, has been hit with six more indictments. This time, he is accused of taking more than $800,000 in illegal payments from state contractors associated with TennCare.

A six-count federal indictment charges Ford with wire fraud and concealment of material facts related to huge consulting fees from two firms contracting with TennCare, the state's taxpayer-funded Medicaid program.

Ford schemed with others to hide payments he wasn't legally entitled to receive, prosecutors allege. ...

According to the indictment, the scheme started in 2001 when Doral Dental, a Milwaukee firm seeking a TennCare contract to provide dental benefits management for 620,000 children, first met with Ford. Believing that a bidding process was about to start, Doral executives turned to Ford, then an influential lawmaker who sat on three key Senate committees.

What makes this story even worse for ol' man Ford is that the charges apparently stem from investigations into his finances by the Commercial Appeal when he tried to fight an attempt to increase his child support payments. A North Carolina woman whom he never married wanted to up the payments, but Ford contested it because he just couldn't afford it. After all, he was supporting (and alternately living with) two whole other families:

In the hearing, Ford said he lives some days with ex-wife Tamara Mitchell-Ford and the three children they had together. On others, he said, he stays with his longtime girlfriend, Connie Mathews, and their two children.

So Ford was supporting three families, living with two, married to none. He was taking money disguised as consulting fees from at least one company seemingly set up specifically to make these fees appear legitimate. Yet he later takes bribe money from FBI agents with no appearance of legitimacy at all.

One would think that a conversation between John Ford and Donkey would go something like this:

FORD: For your information, there's a lot more to politicians than people think.

DONKEY: Example?

FORD: Example? Okay, um, politicians are like onions.

DONKEY: [Sniffs] They stink?

FORD: Yes. No!

DONKEY: They make you cry?

FORD: No!

DONKEY: You leave them out in the sun, they get all brown, start sprouting' little white hairs.

FORD: No! Layers! Onions have layers! Politicians have layers! Onions have layers.
You get it? We both have layers. [Sighs]

DONKEY: Oh, you both have layers. Oh. [Sniffs] You know, not everybody likes onions. Cake! Everybody loves cakes! Cakes have layers.

FORD: I don't care... what everyone likes. Politicians are not like cakes.

Up, in John Ford's case politicians are exactly like onions. They stink, make you cry, go rotten and have layer upon layer of lies and deceptions.

John Ford's Troubled Past

The Tennessean lists the most notorious of Senator John Ford's troubles with the law:

• Controversy: In October 1990, Ford was charged with shooting at a trucker on Interstate 40 near Lexington. He was indicted and pleaded not guilty.

  Outcome: In a jury trial the next year, he was acquitted.

• Controversy: Memphis utility workers in 1997 accused the senator of threatening them with a loaded shotgun. Apparently, Ford became angry when the crew from Memphis Light, Gas and Water parked their vehicles in his driveway, making it difficult for his wife to exit in her car.

  Outcome: The senator was placed on pretrial diversion and completed 250 hours of community service.

  
  

• Controversy:In 2003, a survey of Ford's Federal Express charges on his state
  account revealed that he had used the account to send numerous personal
  packages.

  Outcome: Ford apologized and agreed to pay $1,300 in reimbursement.

  
  

• Controversy:
  Ford was ac-cused earlier this year of receiving a $15,000 contract
  from Johnson Controls, a major electronics manufacturer. Johnson
  Controls, based in Wisconsin, paid Ford a one-time consulting fee in
  September 2001 to help the company obtain energy-efficiency contracts
  for state buildings in 2003.

  Outcome: The matter remains
  under examination by the Senate Ethics Committee. A report from the
  state attorney general's office, which was delivered to the Senate
  yesterday, said Johnson Controls had turned over its contract with Ford
  to investigators.

  
  

• Controversy: Ford was ac-cused earlier
  this year of using campaign funds to pay for his daughter's wedding
  reception in 2003. Ford spent $15,320, claiming it was a legitimate
  election expense because 100 of his constituents were invited to the
  reception. The state Registry of Election Finance ruled the expenditure
  improper and fined him $10,000 this month.

  Outcome: After
  the fine was announced, Ford said he would appeal. According to the
  state Registry of Election Finance, the senator has not yet appealed
  the ruling. By law, Ford has 14 days from the time he receives an
  official letter of notification from the state. The letter was mailed
  out this week.

• Controversy: Information emerged earlier
  this year that Doral Dental, which holds a TennCare dental benefits
  management contract, paid Pennsylvania-based Managed Care Services
  Group Inc. $40,000 a month for about two years. Ford is a partner in a
  similarly named company with the same address. On his tax returns, Ford
  reported that a company called "Managed Care Services Group 1" paid him
  more than $237,000 in 2002 and 2003.

  Outcome: A state
  attorney general's report issued yesterday said two former Doral
  executives exchanged an e-mail in 2002 that said, "According to Senator
  Ford, the deal is progressing nicely and it will be ours. … Please keep
  the existence of this arrangement confidential."

  
  

• Controversy:
  During a January 2005 hearing in a child-support lawsuit brought by a
  North Carolina woman with whom Ford fathered a daughter, the senator
  claimed he should not have to pay more than $500 per month in support
  for the 10-year-old girl. It was at this hearing that Ford said he
  lived in two separate homes with two women whose children he fathered.
  Neither of the homes is in his Senate district.

  Outcome: The suit is pending.

Senator Ford Guilty, Fined $10K

John Ford was found guilty of fraudulently using political campaign funds by the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance. They also fined him $10,000 for using campaign money on his daughter's wedding:

The powerful Memphis Democrat told the election finance board the spending was legal because roughly one-third of the wedding attendees lived in his Senate district.

Ford's imaginative defense of, "Well, everyone else is doing it!" worked about as well as it did for me when I was a child.

On a related note, What Can Brown Do For You? reports that Ford has already announced that he will not run for reelection:

As for his future plans: ''You never can tell. I might run for mayor. I might run for county commissioner. I don't know. I might even try to go to Washington.''

Is J. Ford positioning for taking nephew's Congressional seat?

Why not? The people of that district vote for the name (Fords have run the local political scene for decades, although the rise of Mayor Willie Herrenton gives the Ford family some competition).

John Ford: Memphis' Great Embarrassment

Tenneesee Congressman Harold Ford Jr. wants to run for Sen. Frist's seat in two years and thinks that his biggest problem is "overcoming the image about his party", probably because Tennessee is trending Republican.

Strangely enough, he doesn't think the stink of his uncle, state senator John Ford, is going to be a problem. Which is strange, because there's a lot of stink. People in Memphis/Shelby County put up with it because the Fords are the Boss Tweeds of the area and have been for years, in spite of Memphis mayor Herenton's designs on taking over.

But Uncle John is pushing the limits of credibility.

1. John Ford is the author of legislation that keeps child support payments lower when the father is financially responsible for other children. It has the effect of allowing unscrupulous males to keep procreating without deleterious repercussions in the take-home pay department.

   This brings up a question of ethics as John Ford has six children with three women, all of whom collect child support from him.

2. During a recent child support case, John Ford attempted to invoke this legislation by testifying that he was already paying nearly all the bills for the five other children and two women that he lives with -- some days at one woman's house and other days at the other woman's. (It didn't work -- he was ordered to quadruple the payments he makes for that child, retroactive to 2002.)
3. Neither of the two residences that John Ford said he lived at (under oath) is in his district. The address that he has listed as a residence in the past is actually his business.

   Republicans want an investigation. The state attorney general has declined to investigate this seemingly open and shut case, probably because the rules on residency are unclear with conflicting attorney general opinions.

   On the other hand, the senate ethics committee is preparing to take a look.

4. The child support case has landed John Ford in even more hot water: income tax returns filed as part of the case reveal that he received $237,000 over two years from a consultant with a children's dental care provider.

   Managed Care Services Group, a Pennsylvania-based company that lists Ford as a general partner and paid him $237,000 over two years, was hired by Doral Dental USA as a consultant and lobbyist.

   At the same time, Doral has a $5.3 million contract to process dental benefits for TennCare children and some adult enrollees with medically necessary dental needs, TennCare spokeswoman Marilyn Elam said.

   
   Even though he is on the TennCare Oversight Committee, John Ford never reported his connection with the firm by filing a conflct-of-interest statement -- a direct violation of state law.

5. A Nashville TV station has been digging into John Ford's use of campaign funds and has found that he used campaign money to pay family members and throw a wedding. Payments include $11,000 to girlfriend Snell, $18,400 to girlfriend Matthews for "professional services", $2,450 to ex-wife Ford, $3,000 to two adult daughters, $400 to ex-girlfriend Smith and well over $10K for his daughter's wedding.

   The Registry of Election Finance, in addition to the senate ethics committee, is preparing to investigate.

6. In yet another major conflict of interest, John Ford has proposed five new pieces of legislation to regulate the funeral industry (the Ford fortune was made through the Ford Funeral Home that is still operated by the family in south Memphis). Critics say that the laws are designed to stifle competition in the industry.

7. John Ford isn't exactly behaving with the same class as his nephew Harold. This was John's response when a Memphis news organization tried to question him about his residency:

   He told us not to, "bring him any ****." When we asked him about possible conflicts of interest between his lawmaking efforts and his child support case, he responded, "What's the conflict? Making a *** living?"

8. Speaking of classless behavior, John Ford evidently subscribes to the theory that the best defense is a good offense. Unfortunately John seems to be a little short in the "good offense" department and is resorting to wild accusations.

   When the NAACP came to town to discuss increasing the number of minority children to benefit from lottery scholarships, John Ford told them that he is being attacked by the "white media" and asked them to stand up for him.

   The NAACP has wisely indicated that they do not plan on issuing any statements in support of John Ford.

Senator with Two Families Wants Reduced Child Support

Tennessee Senator John Ford is, appallingly, back in the news. Remember that this man is the chairman of the child welfare committee.

He testified that he lives with and supports two families.

In the hearing, Ford said he lives some days with ex-wife Tamara Mitchell-Ford and the three children they had together. On others, he said, he stays with his longtime girlfriend, Connie Mathews, and their two children.

So except for the whole official-piece-of-paper thing, the man is no different from a bigamist. A bigamist that fools around, that is.

You see, the reason that Ford is in court testifying is that a third woman who had the poor sense to allow this man slimeball to procreate is after an increase in child support:

Ford is battling a lawsuit filed by Dana Smith, who is trying to increase his court-ordered support of their 10-year-old daughter. Smith, a former employee under Ford, won a 1996 sexual harassment verdict against him.

So we know the senator is slime, but just how low is he?

The Memphis Democrat has tried to make use of a law he authored that keeps court-ordered support lower when a father is financially responsible for other children....

Ford said he pays nearly all bills for both families. They stay in houses he owns and where he also lives, though neither home is in his south Memphis Senate district....

Ford contends that any increase for Smith should be tempered by his financial obligations to his five other minor children. None of those children is subject to child support orders.

And there is the answer: John Ford is an unethical slimeball not worthy of breathing the same air as the rest of us. Yet his name is Ford and he is black, thus his future career as a politician from Memphis is secure.

Hat tip to Fishkite from a post on Memphis Red Blogs.