Senate lacks quorum as several lawmakers attend Ford hearing
At least two-thirds of the 33 senators must be present for a quorum, and only five showed up Wednesday morning.
About a dozen of the senators traveled to Memphis where a federal judge began hearing arguments on Ford’s effort to keep the seat amid an investigation into claims some of the ballots in her 13-vote victory last year for the District 29 seat were cast by dead people, felons and nonresidents.
A judge last week granted a temporary injunction to Ford, halting a planned Senate floor vote to dismiss her election victory.
The Memphis Democrat, who hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing, sued all her Senate colleagues contending that their effort to void the election violates the voting rights of the predominantly black district.
The judge’s ruling came a day after a committee of the Senate broke from a special session on ethics reform and voted last Tuesday to nullify Ford’s victory.
Senate Minority Leader Jim Kyle, D-Memphis, said the case has distracted the Senate from its work on ethics.
“The Ophelia Ford matter has taken a lot of energy out of the Senate,” Kyle said Wednesday. “Since the (Wednesday) night the resolution was brought to the committee for the vote, people’s focus has been on that, as opposed to being on the ethics bill.”
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A day after Republican state Rep. Chris Clem announced he will not seek re-election to a fourth term, House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh took him to task for allegedly trying to collect his daily expense allowance despite not attending a floor session.
Clem, an attorney from Lookout Mountain, called the speaker’s claim “outrageous.” Clem said he had been traveling in Georgia, where he is preparing for an upcoming federal trial.
“He’s not here even to be able to discuss ethics,” said Naifeh, D-Covington. “Just like today, he did not show up on the floor of the House. He had someone roll-call him in and out, and I did not have a letter excusing him.
“He tried to get his per diem for the day and not even be here,” Naifeh said.
Lawmakers are paid $150 for daily expenses if they are present.
Clem told the Chattanooga Times Free Press he did not know who pressed the roll-call button to mark him present for Tuesday’s floor session.
“I did not request per diem,” he said. “I was not there, and I did not request it.”
Clem said he is not on any committee working on the ethics bill, but plans to attend when the bill reaches the House floor.
The spat appeared to have been smoothed over by Wednesday’s roll call, when Naifeh noted that Clem’s absence was excused.