Legislator calls for Ford to resign from state Senate
NASHVILLE — Members of a House committee which will look into the creation of an independent ethics commission were announced Thursday by House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, though the committee’s recommendations are likely months away.
Naifeh appointed two of the members, Ulysses Jones Jr., D-Memphis, and Russell Johnson, R-Loudon, while House Majority Leader Kim McMillan, D-Clarksville, named three: Joanne Favors, D-Chattanooga; Mike Turner, D-Old Hickory; and Kent Coleman, D-Murfreesboro.
House Minority Leader Tre Hargett, who along with McMillan will serve as co-chair members on the committee, also was directed by Naifeh to pick three members. His choices were: Dewayne Bunch, R-Cleveland; Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet; and David Davis, R-Johnson City.
“We’re trying to keep this as bipartisan as can be,” Naifeh said during a news conference following Thursday’s House session.
Naifeh said it was unlikely the committee would be able to offer any recommendations to enact before this year’s legislative session ends. No dates have been scheduled for the newly formed committee to meet.
“I think they’ll be able to work on this in the summer and fall,” said Naifeh, adding that he hoped to have the committee’s report by the next legislative session.
The formation of the committee comes at a tumultuous time for legislators as they continue to grapple with fallout from an ethics investigation into business dealings and campaign spending by state Sen. John Ford, D-Memphis. The committee’s formation is the latest in a number of proposed ethics reforms aimed at improving the Legislature’s image.
On Thursday, Turner is believed to be the first state legislator to publicly call for Ford to resign from the Senate.
“If I was Sen. Ford, I would resign,” Turner told WTVF-TV of Nashville. “I think he’s hurt the credibility of our Legislature. I think he’s hurting the credibility of our party. I think he just needs to move on.”
McMillan said she appointed members to the committee who had approached her in the past about ethics questions. Turner referred to her choices as “backbenchers.”
“If anybody thinks this is games as usual, they’re crazy,” he said.
Tennessee is one of 27 states that don’t have an independent ethics commission.
Peggy Kerns, director of the Center for Ethics and Government with the National Conference of State Legislatures, said if a commission is eventually formed, it needs to have an equal mix of Republican and Democratic appointees.
“Legislatures don’t usually like any outside groups telling them they’re not doing something right,” she said. “Some states have punished ethics commissions by pulling their funding. My caution would be to not use funding as a way to punish or sanction an ethics commission.”
Senate Majority Leader Ron Ramsey said he has some ideas for Naifeh’s group.
The Blountville Republican said he thinks an independent ethics panel should have an equal mix of Republican and Democratic appointees between the House and the Senate. And he said any panel finding or recommendations for punishment would have to clear the General Assembly.
“In the end, it needs to be us as elected officials making the final decisions,” he said.
Also Thursday, the Senate delayed action yet again on a bill aimed at the residency issues of Ford, who uses his family’s business to establish residency in the senate district he represents.
A measure being pushed by a bipartisan group of legislators would require that candidates use their home address for establishing which seat they qualify to represent. In Ford’s case, his declared homes are outside his district.
Ramsey said lawmakers are still working on a few amendments that would tighten up what is currently a mixture of ambiguous residency laws and rules.
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AP writer Matt Gouras contributed to this report.