Tax bills pile up for indicted lawmaker

The city has threatened to auction his east Memphis home for $3,002 in unpaid property taxes from 2003 and homeowner associations in Memphis and Collierville have filed liens against homes he owns, citing unpaid dues totaling almost $2,300.

First Tennessee Bank is seeking a default judgment on $59,000 in loans to day care center that were guaranteed by the Memphis Democrat.

County records show Ford owes another $7,882 in county taxes, interest and penalties for 2004 and 2005.

Ford’s ex-wife, Tamara Mitchell-Ford, said she is concerned for the couple’s children because Ford is seeking relief from child support payments. Mitchell-Ford is listed as a co-owner of the east Memphis house. Ford has appealed a February court order to pay $1,200 a month in child support.

Ford was indicted in a federal investigation called Tennessee Waltz that also led to corruption charges against four other current or former lawmakers. He resigned from his seat shortly after the indictment and has pleaded not guilty to taking $55,000 in bribes. His sister Ophelia Ford recently won a special election to take his Senate seat, by a 13-vote margin that is being contested by her Republican opponent, Terry Roland.

Ford was making up to $365,000 a year as a political consultant, but he has said that the federal indictment has scared off customers.

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.