Posted on 04/30/2007 10:30:43 AM PDT by SmithL
NASHVILLE - The state Capitol that John Ford left after his arrest in a nearby hotel on the morning of May 26, 2005, is a different place now than it was during his 31 years in the Senate. His former colleagues agreed that most of the changes are a direct legacy of his troubles with the law.
Some lawmakers still flock to nightly receptions at area hotels put on by scores of statewide associations and packed with their members from back home anxious to meet with their representatives.
Many of the 517 registered lobbyists still crowd the Capitol corridors trying to win, defeat or influence legislation.
But the rules of engagement - the laws, regulations and enforcement mechanisms that govern the conduct of legislators, lobbyists and employers of lobbyists - are wholly different.
For one, the kind of one-to-one dinners with lobbyists at pricey restaurants that Ford was famous for are now banned.
One such dinner in 2004 at Morton's Steakhouse, a block from Legislative Plaza, is where Ford first met undercover FBI agents posing as owners of the fictional E-Cycle Management who wanted a favorable bill passed in the Legislature.
"Few criminal investigations have had a greater impact on state government than Tennessee Waltz," Senate Democratic Leader Jim Kyle of Memphis said Friday.
First, the revelations in 2005 of Ford's $800,000 in consulting fees from two companies doing or seeking to do business with TennCare prompted the General Assembly to adopt a law that year banning state and local legislators from paid consulting work with entities doing or seeking business with the government they're part of.
It also requires much more public disclosure of sources of income and the financial interests of officials.
Rep. Frank Buck, D-Smithville, had sought passage of the law for four years after hearing rumors of conflicts of interest and exorbitant pay for "consulting." But it never passed until April 2005, after months of controversy about Ford.
Ford had argued against the bill in 2004, calling it "egregious to all of us as senators. A lot of us will not serve here under these circumstances."
Ford still faces a federal court trial in Nashville on charges of wire fraud and of concealing his interests in the two contractors.
Dick Williams, chairman of Common Cause of Tennessee, said Ford's cases "clearly gave an impetus" to the legislative changes.
"I think the growing public sentiment to pass the consulting bill (grew out of) the revelation of the amount and degree to which Sen. Ford was abusing what became black-and-white against the law - and which I believe was already against the spirit of the law," Williams said.
Then, in a special session in early 2006 - a year after the arrests of Ford and four current and former legislative colleagues in the FBI sting - the General Assembly enacted its most comprehensive reform ever of ethics laws governing state and local officials. The new law substantially restricted what legislators and lobbyists can do, tightened campaign finance laws, required still more disclosure of income and interests, and created a new Tennessee Ethics Commission to enforce it.
"(Ford's) issues were the catalyst for the special session on ethics and the subsequent legislation that was passed," Kyle said.
Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, agreed. "One thing I'd like to stress is there really are good men and women serving in the state Legislature - there to do the right thing for citizens of Tennessee."
There are other changes.
Republicans held a 17-16 Senate majority when Ford resigned on the last day of the 2005 session, but Democrat John Wilder remained speaker, with power to appoint committee chairs. As a result, Ford - a member of the coalition that kept Wilder in power as speaker - remained chairman of the General Welfare, Health and Human Services Committee.
When Wilder was ousted as speaker in January as Republicans consolidated their majority, new Speaker Ron Ramsey appointed Republicans to chair all committees.
That means if Ford were still a senator, he would no longer chair the committee with oversight of virtually all health and social programs, nor would he hold the power a chairmanship confers.
And if Ford had not resigned, Ramsey, R-Blountville, said the Senate would have ousted him on ethics grounds stemming from the consulting work.
"We were ready to file about a six-count charge against Senator Ford on ethics violations. I believe there would have been enough votes on the committee and in the Senate to oust" him, he said at the time - a belief he repeated after Friday's verdict.
Eight of the 33 senators who served in Ford's last session are gone, including himself. Some of his ex-colleagues say privately that he wouldn't have the prerogatives he once held.
After revelations of his use of a state account for private FedEx services, leaders banned it and imposed controls to prevent it. And there was his purchase at taxpayer expense of pricey Mont Blanc pens, which he gave to associates.
The vacancy caused by Ford's resignation led to a special election won by his sister, Ophelia Ford, by 13 votes. An investigation of vote fraud ended in the Senate voiding the election last year and removing her from the seat (although she was not implicated in any crimes).
Ophelia Ford returned this year after winning last fall, representing one-sixth of Shelby County. But she has been absent for 22 of the 32 days the Senate has met in regular session, because of what she says is a serious case of anemia, and was last present on March 29.
Her absence is of increasing concern to Democrats, with every vote needed in a Senate split 16-16 between the two parties plus one Independent.
They are just smarter about it now.
“I couldn’t find this at the Commercial Appeal, so I went ahead and posted this from the News Sentinel.”
The story was on the front page of The Tennessean on Saturday....
I was at a Republican women’s conference in Nashville on Saturday ...
We all read The Tennessean with glee and explained it to the ladies from 11 other states so they could laugh...
And they did... its rare that a Democrat gets his comeuppeance...wonder why that is?
:)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.