- Secretly recorded videotapes showed then-city councilman Edmund Ford Sr. accepting $4,900 in cash from political lobbyist Joe Cooper. The tapes were shown Tuesday during Ford's trial.Posted on 05/15/2008 7:58:17 AM PDT by SmithL
Wearing a button-sized hidden camera in his shirt and a recorder taped to his waist, political consultant Joe Cooper passed $100 bills to then-city councilman Edmund Ford Sr. in 2006 while seeking approval for a development project.
On the tapes presented Wednesday to a federal court jury, Cooper refers to Ford as "the Godfather" and "the master" and encourages him to "work your magic and just make sure it happens."
Testifying as the government's key witness in Ford's extortion and bribery trial, Cooper explained how he regularly got such issues approved by the council for well-heeled developers who employed him.
"You build a relationship," Cooper said under questioning by federal prosecutor Tom Colthurst. "A person calls you up and says, 'I need a favor.' You take care of the favor and then you say, 'Can you do something for me?' It's never, 'This is a bribe. Tit for tat.' It's, 'Hey, you need something, I need something,' and it's handled. That's the way it worked, and it worked very successfully."
Cooper acknowledged that he agreed to cooperate with the FBI only after being charged with laundering money for drug dealers while working as a car salesman.
On cross-examination, he also said he hoped his testimony would result in a lighter sentence than the 30 to 37 months he is facing, but added that he also wanted to do the right thing.
"I'm here to try to eliminate a cancer that was on the City Council," Cooper told defense attorney Michael Scholl. "Sometimes it takes a punch in the mouth to realize you were doing wrong."
Scholl pointed out that Cooper apparently had not had that awakening in 1977 when he was imprisoned for bank fraud.
"In fact, you probably became the cancer of the Memphis City Council, didn't you?" Scholl asked him.
Cooper replied: "It takes two to tango, sir."
Scholl: "And you like to tango, don't you?"
Ford and former councilman Rickey Peete were indicted on bribery charges that stemmed from Cooper's cooperation with the FBI. Peete pleaded guilty and is serving a 51-month prison sentence.
Ford, 52, a two-term councilman who stepped down in December, is charged with taking $8,900 in payoffs from Cooper to push through a billboard and development project on the south loop of Interstate 240. The council passed the measure 9-2 on Oct. 3, 2006.
"You're the master," Cooper told Ford on one recording. "I'm just trying to learn."
In earlier testimony, FBI agent Daniel Netemeyer said Cooper was moved to a motel in Jackson, Tenn., for his safety when Ford was arrested Nov. 30, 2006, and that he was paid $16,000 for living expenses between August 2006 and May 2007 because he could not find a job.
Netemeyer said Cooper had arranged a loan for Ford's Whitehaven funeral home from developer Jackie Welch and had gotten another developer, Rusty Hyneman, to sign a lease agreement for a $50,000 Cadillac SRX for Ford in August 2006. Cooper had been a salesman for Bud Davis Cadillac.
In the first recording shown to jurors, Cooper handed Ford $3,000 in FBI-provided cash, which was tucked inside an invoice indicating that payments on the Cadillac were delinquent.
Cooper urged Ford to get the monthly payments up to date because they were hampering Hyneman's credit rating.
"This is causing Rusty a bunch of problems," Cooper told Ford on the tape.
Last year, Hyneman filed suit against the dealership, claiming his signature had been forged.
Bud Davis filed a countersuit in December, insisting Hyneman had co-signed the papers and said the developer had damaged the company's reputation as a reputable dealer.
Scholl will continue cross-examination of Cooper when the trial resumes today before U.S. Dist. Judge Samuel H. Mays Jr.
- Secretly recorded videotapes showed then-city councilman Edmund Ford Sr. accepting $4,900 in cash from political lobbyist Joe Cooper. The tapes were shown Tuesday during Ford's trial.
The family that preys together, . . .
“...an old fam-ly tradition...”
All he ever really wanted was a little respect.
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