State Senator Under House Arrest in FBI's Sting

AP ^

[Jenya]

State Senator Under House Arrest in FBI's Sting

Four Charged With Taking Payoffs, Threatening to Kill Witnesses

By WOODY BAIRD, AP

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (May 28) - A judge ordered that a state senator be placed under house arrest Friday over the objections of prosecutors, who played a video of the lawmaker watching an undercover agent count out $10,000 and an audiotape of him threatening a potential witness.

The tapes were played at a bond hearing a day after Sen. John Ford was charged as part of a two-year FBI sting operation nicknamed "Tennessee Waltz." Ford is charged along with four other current and former state lawmakers with taking payoffs, but he alone is accused of threatening to kill witnesses.

U.S. Magistrate Diane Vescovo set bond at $20,000 and ordered Ford to be placed under house arrest until his trial. The lawmaker then slipped out the courthouse through a garage exit, avoiding the news media.

Prosecutors, saying Ford should remain in federal custody, appealed before the paperwork needed to release him could be processed, but a district court denied their request for a stay. A new hearing was scheduled for Tuesday before another federal judge, who could uphold Vescovo's decision, modify it or send Ford back to jail.

Ford is the brother of Harold Ford, who served 11 terms in Congress. His nephew, Rep. Harold Ford Jr., has served five terms in Congress and said Wednesday he would run in 2006 for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist.

The videotape shows John Ford across a desk from an undercover FBI agent laying down $100 bills for what U.S. Attorney Tim DiScenza said was a bribe. Ford leans over and the agent asks him if he is counting. Ford says, "I ain't trying to count. I trust you."

In a scratchy Feb. 3 audiotape, Ford tells an undercover informant that he owns a gun and could shoot someone. The informant can be heard laughing, which FBI agent Mark Jackson described as nervous laughter because "the threat sounded legitimate to him."

Jackson said Ford told an agent at a later meeting that "if he caught someone trying to set him up, he would shoot that person, kill them, so that there would be no witnesses."

Ford's attorney, Michael Scholl, suggested the lawmaker was joking with the agent.

"Things are said ... that are meant in a joking manner," Scholl said, adding that "Ford has a problem of running his mouth too much."

Ford was arrested Thursday as part of a sting operation in which undercover agents created a sham company named E-Cycle Management and posed as executives who asked lawmakers to introduce bills to help their business.

According to the indictments, the lawmakers and two other men took $92,000 to usher bills for E-Cycle through the Legislature. Ford is accused of taking $55,000 between August and April.

The other defendants were released Thursday without posting bond.

Ford can't leave the federal court district except to appear in Nashville before the state Senate Ethics Committee, which is investigating him on an array of unrelated allegations. Ford cannot attend regular sessions of the Legislature.

Over three decades in the Tennessee Senate, Ford has lost paternity lawsuits, given a political job to a girlfriend, used campaign money for his daughter's wedding and been successfully sued for sexual harassment. The Senate Ethics Committee and a federal grand jury are also investigating $429,000 Ford received from a consulting company with financial ties to the state's Medicaid program.

[Jenya]

Gee, no mention that the crooked Senator is a Dem. Surely an oversight on the part of AP.

[Just A Nobody]

Hey, at least it is beginning to be reported. This thread was just discussing the lack of reporting.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1412188/posts

[EdHallick]

Why doesn`t he just say he is a "gay American" like Jim McSleazy of New Jersey, and all will be immediately forgiven and brushed under the rug.

[Jenya]

Oops, I didn't know this was already posted. I did a search too.

Amin Mod, please pull this thread. Thanks.

[Joe Bonforte]

The tragic part is in the last paragraph. This man should have been out of the Tennessee State Senate long, long ago. But his clueless Memphis constituents kept on putting him there, despite the obvious fact that he was a crook.

[Bar-Face]

I would guess that the word "Democrat" was omitted for the story because the AP is really really apolitical and would never ever allow any political bias in a story. (sarcasm off)

[Jenya]

I would guess that the word "Democrat" was omitted for the story because the AP is really really apolitical and would never ever allow any political bias in a story. (sarcasm off)

AP = Arm Pit

[Eastbound]

No wonder this country is being taxed to death. Not only because of socialism and foreign giveaways, but because we have to pay for the habits and lifestyles of the rich and famous elected officials.

Anyone have any idea how wide-spread this kickback stuff really is in American politics? Don't tell me. I really don't want to know. I'd rather die believing our nation has been managed by honorable men and women of substance and character. :

[Lakeside]

Believe me, his constituents are NOT clueless about him or his crooked ways. Most just don't care if he's dirty. In fact, it seems to make him a folk hero in their eyes.

[Raycpa]

10K? Doesn't take much does it.

[RXSalesman]

Has the Commercial Appeal polled his district in the last couple of days? I'm predicting his approval rating to go up.

[RXSalesman]

Actually the video of the $10k bribe was just one of several payoffs he took. I think he's charged with taking over $55K altogether.

[Lakeside]

"...I'm predicting his approval rating to go up."

Hahaha! Yeah, from 98.97% to 99.85%(conservative numbers, understand!)?

To his constituents he's even more of a folk hero now.

[GailA]

The Commie Appeal is probably crying in their beer that one of their pet RATS has been caught with his fingers in the cookie jar.