Harold Ford taking Bill Frist's job next year.
Ford has an uncle problem.
U.S. Indicts 4 Tennessee Lawmakers in Corruption Case
By JOHN BRANSTON
Published: May 27, 2005
MEMPHIS, May 26 - Four members of the Tennessee legislature, including a member of the Ford family dynasty in Memphis, were indicted on Thursday after a two-year undercover operation by the F.B.I. whose outcome has rattled the state's political establishment.
Among those indicted was State Senator John N. Ford, one of the most powerful politicians in Memphis, who was charged with extorting $55,000 from a bogus company created by the bureau. He was also indicted on three counts of threatening to shoot or kill anyone he suspected was an F.B.I. agent or was trying to set him up.
Mr. Ford was arrested in Nashville, was transported to Memphis and remained in federal custody pending a detention hearing Friday. His arrest came a day after a nephew, Representative Harold E. Ford Jr., Democrat of Tennessee, filed paperwork to run for the seat being vacated next year by Bill Frist, the majority leader of the United States Senate.
John Ford's brother Harold Ford Sr. is a former congressman who was acquitted of federal corruption charges in 1993 in the same Memphis courtroom where the handcuffed defendant made his initial court appearance Thursday afternoon. Two other brothers serve on the Memphis City Council and Shelby County Commission.
The indictments, announced by United States Attorney Terrell L. Harris, named three other state lawmakers and a former state legislator who is now an aide to the mayor of Shelby County, which encompasses Memphis.
"Government is not for sale," Mr. Harris said at a news conference here, adding that the investigation, code-named Tennessee Waltz, was continuing.
Mark Gwyn, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said, "We hope this will bring some public trust back to the citizens of the state of Tennessee."
Indicted along with Mr. Ford were former State Senator Roscoe Dixon of Memphis, a Democrat who is now a top aide to the Shelby County mayor, A C Wharton; State Senator Kathryn I. Bowers, Democrat of Memphis, a former state representative who was sworn in one week ago to succeed Mr. Dixon; State Senator Ward Crutchfield, Democrat of Chattanooga; and State Representative J. Chris Newton, Republican of Cleveland. Also indicted were Barry Myers of Memphis and Charles Love of Chattanooga, each of whom was described by the government as a "bagman."
Mr. Dixon, Ms. Bowers, Mr. Crutchfield, Mr. Newton and Mr. Ford are all charged with taking money from the bogus company, E-Cycle Management, to introduce and pass legislation that would enable it to operate profitably in Tennessee.
According to the indictments, the F.B.I. set up E-Cycle in 2003 and portrayed it as a business that obtained and disposed of outdated electronic equipment by sending it outside the United States for salvage. Its headquarters were said to be in Atlanta.
At the news conference, neither Mr. Harris nor other government officials would comment on how E-Cycle had solicited business.
The sight of the usually dapper John Ford walking into a federal courtroom in Memphis without a necktie and in handcuffs was only the latest turn in a long, colorful career.
Senator Ford was once acquitted of firing a gun at a truck driver through the sunroof of his car. Earlier this year he testified to now dividing his time between two families in two homes in Memphis - one with his current girlfriend and mother of two of his children, the other with his former wife and mother of three of them. And earlier this month, he was fined $10,000 for spending $15,000 in campaign money on his daughter's wedding reception in 2003.
Mr. Ford is also under federal investigation in another case, for payments totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars that he received from OmniCare Health Plan, a managed care organization.
The indictments were a blow to Democrats in Memphis, their last stronghold in the state, and came at an awkward time for Harold Ford Jr., who was keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in 2000 and is considered one of the bright young faces in the party.
Asked Thursday night about the charges, the congressman, attending a graduation ceremony for a Memphis church's day school, tried to put some distance between himself and his uncle.
"I think people know the difference between the two of us," he said, adding, "It's a sad day as a Tennessean, as a nephew of someone who has found himself accused of some pretty awful things."
In Nashville, the state capital, workers crowded around television sets on Thursday as news of the indictments broke.
"Today is a sad day on many levels," said the first-term Democratic governor, Phil Bredesen, according to The Associated Press. "I think all of us feel that the important thing to do is keep a steady hand."
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