Ford gets permission to attend conference in Washington

Ford, who resigned from the state Senate in May, will attend the conference Sept. 21-26 to look for new clients for his private consulting business, according to his lawyer, Michael Scholl.

“He hopes to use that as a method for getting contacts for his business that he’s in now,” Scholl said Monday.

On a request filed by Scholl, Judge Daniel Breen gave Ford permission to leave the state for the convention.

The Annual Legislative Conference of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation draws 20,000 to 30,000 people each year, including local politicians and business leaders, according to its Web site.

Since Ford is on bond awaiting trial, he cannot leave Tennessee without a judge’s OK.

Ford’s work as a consultant for a TennCare subcontractor while still in the Senate was at the center of a debate on ethics that dominated much of the latest session of the General Assembly. TennCare is the state’s public health care program.

Ford is charged with bribery and extortion in an unrelated investigation focused on an FBI front company called E-Cycle Management that sought favorable legislation from the General Assembly. He also is charged with threatening a federal witness.

Ford resigned from the Senate shortly after his indictment.

In his request for permission to travel outside Tennessee, Ford said he has attended the conference in the past and it has helped him make new contacts.

Ford’s “ability to conduct his business on a national basis is necessary to offset the difficulties which have arisen locally due to negative publicity,” his court petition said.

Ford, who also sells insurance to businesses, says his indictment by a federal grand jury has run off customers. The Senate investigation into his consulting business ended a partnership that brought him more than $400,000.

Ford was indicted in a federal investigation called Tennessee Waltz that also led to corruption charges against four other current or former lawmakers.

One lawmaker, former Rep. Chris Newton, R-Cleveland, has pleaded guilty and is scheduled for sentencing in February. Two admitted bagmen for lawmakers, Barry Myers of Memphis and Charles Love of Chattanooga, also have pleaded guilty.

Also charged are Sen. Ward Crutchfield, D-Chattanooga; Sen. Kathryn Bowers, D-Memphis; former Sen. Roscoe Dixon, a Memphis Democrat, and Michael Hooks Sr., chairman of the Shelby County Commission.