Ford resigns from Tennessee Senate
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“I hereby resign from the state Senate. I plan to spend the rest of my time with my family clearing my name,” Ford said in a letter Lt. Gov. John Wilder read on the last day of the General Assembly session.
Ford, a Senate Democrat for more than 30 years, was arrested Thursday as part of a two-year FBI sting operation nicknamed “Tennessee Waltz.” He is charged along with four other current and former state lawmakers with taking payoffs, but he is the only one accused of threatening to kill witnesses.
Friday in a Memphis courtroom, prosecutors played video they said showed the lawmaker watching an undercover agent count out a $10,000 payoff and an audiotape of him threatening to shoot a potential witness.
According to the indictments, the lawmakers and two other men took $92,000 to usher bills through the legislature for a phony company the FBI created called E-Cycle Management. Ford is accused of taking $55,000 between August and April from the sham company.
Republican Senate Leader Ron Ramsey said the Ethics Committee he chairs was getting ready to file a six-count charge against Ford for violating Senate rules stemming from a separate investigation of why Ford was paid $429,000 by a state contractor, TennCare provider Doral Dental.
“I believe we would have had the votes to remove Senator Ford from office,” Ramsey said.
He said the most damaging evidence against Ford in a report compiled by the state attorney general were e-mails indicating Ford was helping the Doral contract with his chairmanship of the General Welfare Committee. Ford had claimed he only helped Doral with out-of-state contacts.
Ramsey said the report, compiled over the past three months, had only scratched the surface,
“I think it became quite evident they could have found more, but they found enough,” he said.
A federal magistrate put Ford under house arrest in Memphis while he awaits trial and told him he couldn’t attend any legislative sessions in Nashville except appearances before the Ethics Committee.
The timing of the resignation surprised some lawmakers.
“I’m a little surprised, but I think he realized a cat only has nine lives and he’s on about life 10,” said Sen. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville.
“I think the action he has taken is very appropriate. It’s what he should have done,” said Rep. Frank Buck, a Democrat who has championed tougher ethics standards for lawmakers and lobbyists.
Ford’s ethical troubles snowballed this year after he testified during a child support fight that he had two households — one with his ex-wife and another with a longtime girlfriend — but neither home appeared to be in his Senate district. He had to give the court his income tax records, which brought to light the work for Doral. He also has been of accused using his consultant business to help another TennCare contractor.
The Doral deal is under investigation by a grand jury in Nashville.
Ford is believed to be the first Tennessee senator to resign under a cloud since Ed Gillock, also a Memphis Democrat, gave up his seat in 1983 amid an influence-peddling scandal.
Sen. Kathryn Bowers, one of the other lawmakers arrested with Ford this week, said she didn’t plan to resign and repeated she intends to run again for the Senate seat she recently gained in a special election.
“Everybody that knows me knows I’m a fighter,” said Bowers, who said she is not guilty.
Crutchfield has not talked to reporters about his situation but joked with colleagues shortly after Ford’s resignation was announced.
While a mock resolution was being read to name a building after another senator, Crutchfield said to large laughter, “I’m not sure why anyone would want a building named after them given what’s happened to me. But good luck.”
Ford, 63, began his public career in the 1970s when he, his brother Harold and other family members began building a powerful political organization in Memphis. Harold Ford beat a white incumbent in 1974 to become Tennessee’s first black congressman. That same election sent John Ford to the state Senate and brother Emmett Ford to the Tennessee House.
Harold Ford was in Congress for 22 years. Son Harold Ford Jr. was elected to that seat in 1996 and on Wednesday announced he had officially launched his campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2006.
Emmett Ford gave up his House seat after he was convicted of insurance fraud.
A special election will be called for late summer or early fall to fill the inner city seat John Ford is leaving.