Posted on 05/04/2007 7:56:40 AM PDT by SmithL
Joseph Lee III owes his ascension and downfall at Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division to the same man: indicted City Councilman Edmund Ford.
Advertisement As a nominee of Mayor Willie Herenton, Lee faced a divided City Council in June 2004 over his six-month-long bid to become president and CEO of the city-owned utility company.
But he had help in Ford, who lobbied fellow council members privately and publicly to vote for Herenton's nominee.
City Council Chairman Tom Marshall in March said Ford asked him to vote for Lee to end "the racial gridlock we were in."
"We have the right person here," Ford said of Lee during a personnel committee meeting.
Despite concerns that Lee lacked the necessary experience and qualifications to head the three-service utility, the City Council voted 7-5 on June 15, 2004, to appoint him to the $215,000 top job at MLGW.
Nearly three years later, on Feb. 13, the FBI delivered subpoenas to the utility's Downtown headquarters.
Federal agents are investigating why MLGW staff allowed Ford to amass more than $16,000 in debt on three utility accounts as he served as chairman of the council committee that oversees MLGW's budget and spending.
As The Commercial Appeal first reported, MLGW protected one of Ford's accounts by including it in a program designed for low-income residents. His name was also included in a system that notified top executives if any of a dozen politicians, including Herenton, faced utility disconnection.
Council members soon began calling for Lee's resignation.
But as he addressed reporters Thursday at City Hall, Herenton did not blame the ouster of Lee -- his longtime protege -- solely on the billing scandal that has embroiled MLGW for three months.
"Joseph was never accepted as president of MLGW by many in the community," Herenton said.
Yet Lee's resignation as president of MLGW can be linked more directly to those who lost confidence in him rather than those who have never backed the utility chief.
And it all ends where it began -- with Edmund Ford.
On Feb. 21, after having received a subpoena to testify before a grand jury about billing irregularities involving Ford's delinquent accounts, Lee reached out to a friend and political ally: lawyer Robert Spence, a former city attorney and fellow Herenton appointee.
"Pls give me info on your rates/billing for this engagement," Lee wrote in an e-mail, asking Spence to represent him.
Six days later, on Feb. 27, Lee appeared before the grand jury. Spence was at his side in and out of the federal courthouse.
"There was no active intent to treat (Ford) differently -- but the fact is, he was treated differently," Lee told reporters that afternoon on Main Street. "I am sorry."
During the next two months, Lee faced an independent City Council investigation and an MLGW audit. Both found executives, including Lee, violated internal policies in handling Ford's accounts. Spence advised Lee not to cooperate with the city investigation and distributed a rebuttal of its findings.
For a time, despite the scandal involving Lee's decision to protect Ford's accounts from disconnection, the MLGW president appeared fated to keep his job. On April 10, the City Council failed to pass a resolution demanding he step down.
But Lee soon faced the fallout of a second decision involving his handling of the Ford affair.
The Commercial Appeal reported Tuesday that Lee and vice president and general counsel Odell Horton Jr. quietly agreed to have MLGW pay Lee's legal bills, which have topped $60,000. Asking Spence not to bill in increments larger than $24,999, Horton shielded the agreement from City Council oversight. The council approves all contracts of $25,000 or more.
MLGW board member Nick Clark demanded answers about the fees this week and began to pressure Lee and Horton. Then, on Tuesday, Lee allegedly attempted to blackmail Clark, threatening to divulge something about his past if he did not stop his inquiries.
As Clark reported the incident to the FBI and Herenton, MLGW reversed course Wednesday, claiming previous statements were incorrect and Lee's personal legal fees would not be paid by MLGW.
By then, Lee had lost the confidence of a very influential man at MLGW: board chairman Rick Masson. A longtime Herenton confidante, Masson for the first time Wednesday publicly called for a change in leadership.
"I guess it just reached that point," he said.
The next morning, Lee and Horton no longer had jobs at MLGW. Given Horton's resignation, Herenton seemed most concerned about the attempt to use ratepayer dollars to fund Lee's personal legal defense.
"I think the legal fee situation was not handled appropriately," Herenton said. He blamed the problem on miscommunication, saying MLGW staffers told him it was never their intent to pay Lee's legal fees.
But when asked why the letter of engagement Horton drafted and Lee signed said MLGW would pay the fees, Herenton paused.
"You're asking me a question obviously I can't answer," he replied.
As Herenton walked away from the lectern, the question nagged at him.
He approached a reporter. "I just don't know the answer to your question," Herenton said as if dejected.
That question and others lead back to Ford's $16,000 utility bill.
If Ford had any honor, he would resign, too. But he won’t.
If this is who I think it is, he was on Mike Fleming's show and it was Herenton that would not talk to him and one of Herenton's pawns that threatened him... a different one than Lee.
Include Herenton on that also
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.