Documents show OmniCare bought meals for Ford, three others
The TennCare Bureau released documents from United American Healthcare Corp. of Detroit on Wednesday that show its former chief executive bought numerous meals for Ford, state Reps. Joe Armstrong and Larry Miller, and former state Sen. Roscoe Dixon.
Ford and Dixon, both Memphis Democrats, were both indicted on bribery charges last week in a separate federal corruption sting.
The free meals date back to 2000 when Dixon was still in office. The documents show most of the spending was on Ford, who also had several flights and hotels paid for by CEO Osbie Howard.
UAHC, whose Tennessee subsidiary was formerly known as OmniCare, turned over hundreds of pages of documents last month to the state, which was trying to determine why OmniCare paid Ford thousands of dollars in consulting fees. Ford has said he was working for OmniCare on business outside Tennessee.
TennCare officials were unhappy with the relatively generic information provided by UAHC and requested more detail, which was released Wednesday.
Miller, a Memphis Democrat, said he didn’t recall having dinner with Howard. Ford, Dixon and Armstrong, D-Knoxville, did not immediately return a phone call Wednesday seeking comment.
Howard paid for Ford to take several trips to Miami and Atlanta, where Ford stayed in lavish hotels such as the Ritz-Carlton. One trip to Miami in 2002 cost $1,356, and Howard wrote “expenses for John Ford charged to my credit card account” on the expense report.
According to the documents, many meals were in Nashville and often included other people with Ford. One meal at a popular restaurant with Ford and Dixon cost close to $150.
The state had been threatening hefty fines if OmniCare didn’t divulge its complete relationship with Ford. An attorney hired by UAHC had said there are no written documents, e-mail or mail proving its claim that all Ford’s work was done in other states.
The company said it relied upon regular oral updates from Ford on his work and never put it down on paper.
TennCare spokeswoman Marilyn Elam said the state has turned the documents over to the state attorney general’s office to see if there are any violations.
“We will be awaiting findings to see if there are contractual violations, what they are, and what any appropriate remedies under our contract might be,” she said.
Ford resigned from the Senate on Saturday after his arrest in an operation dubbed “Tennessee Waltz.”
Ford and three other lawmakers — Sen. Kathryn Bowers, D-Memphis; Rep. Chris Newton, R-Cleveland; and Sen. Ward Crutchfield, D-Chattanooga — are accused of taking money from a fake company set up by the FBI.
At court hearings for Ford, prosecutors played a video clip the FBI says shows Ford taking a $10,000 payoff. In all, Ford allegedly took $55,000 from undercover FBI agents.