Thomas: Add Senior's whodunit to the fiction section (Harold Ford Sr!)

I thought I was going to have to wait for a neutral party to investigate allegations of voter fraud in the state Senate race in which Democrat Ophelia Ford beat Republican Terry Roland by 13 votes. But Big Brother has come to the rescue. In just two days, former congressman Harold Ford Sr. has completed an investigation into the five suspect votes cast Sept. 15 at a North Memphis polling site.

The Miami-based Columbo claims the culprit is a white Republican female poll worker who rigged the vote as part of a GOP scheme to ruin the family name and upset U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr.'s bid for the U.S. Senate.

There's Senior's brother, Edmund, chairman of the Memphis City Council. Last year, local developer Rusty Hyneman co-signed on Edmund's $50,000 car loan; Edmund has voted in favor of projects Hyneman has brought before the council.

Another brother, John, who has at least eight children by at least four different women, has tried to fight increased child support payments. He's facing foreclosure on a house he shared with one of his baby's mommas. And the former state senator was recently indicted on federal bribery charges.

In his failed 2003 bid for a council seat, son Isaac insisted that whether he graduated from high school was a non-issue.

Last year, the classy quartet of Shelby County Commissioner Joe Ford, John, Isaac and Senior's other son, Jake, joined a wrestling match at the Mid-South Coliseum.

To this day, there are those who are still miffed by Senior's description in 1992 of an opponent's supporters as East Memphis "devils."

It's safe to say that the family name is already tattered, and it's the Fords who did the tattering.

So far, Junior has kept the family funk from stinking up his political aspirations, although it's a long shot that Middle and East Tennessee voters will send him to the Senate.

Junior's odds will only get longer when the rest of the state learns that his detective daddy essentially circumvented the criminal investigations with his own interrogation of workers from the 27-1 polling site.

Shelby County Election Commissioner Greg Duckett suspects the same person signed five ballots at this site, including two for people who died before the election. Of the 34 votes cast here, 32 went to Ophelia, one to Roland and one to perennial candidate Prince Mongo Hodges. Senior would have us suspend common sense and believe that the GOP plot called for a single vote for the GOP candidate. Ri-i-i-i-ght.

Before the election, Senior promised that if Ophelia won, he wouldn't coach her. "I never helped any of my other family members."

Technically, he's kept his word, because his entry into the fray is of no help to his sister or his eldest son. His intervention serves only to cast more suspicion on the Democrats, not the Republicans.

Expect the Worst From Harold Sr.
by Thaddeus Matthews (Dem Talkshow Host)

Don't be fooled by the antics that I predict will come from Harold Ford Sr. His concern about dead folk voting is not about his sister Ophelia,but about his son Harold Jr. Who wants to be elected to the U.S.Senate. Many close to the ex-congressman state that Harold Sr wanted Jr. To hold on to his safe seat in congress and not run for the senate. But will support him because that's his son.

Therefore the negatives about the Ford's maybe being involved in voter fraud,will hurt Jr.Ford in middle and east Tenn,where it's already predicted he will lose.So what's a father to do to save his son? Play the them against us game.I predict that Harold will say that the use of dead person names to vote is a republican scheme to destroy the Ford's,take a black seat, and place a republican in a seat that democracts have held for several decades.

I predict that Harold will say that the East Memphis devils are putting a plan in place to keep Jr. Out of the senate. He will try to hitch blacks to a wagon loaded down with bullshit. He will try to farther divide this community for the benefit of his son. But this community must see him for what he is, a self serving former politician who wants to live through his son.

I was speaking tonight with my long time friend Randy Wade, Randy stated that" Its important that people know that the people that have supported Terry Roland are not just white people and republicans,but blacks and cemocracts as well" which is true. I refused to support someone who took the black community for granted and never told us what her platform was.

Randy went on to state that "Every politician black and white of both parties should be grateful to Roland and John Harvey for exposing the fraud that has taken place" it has long been felt that the dead was voting,now there is proof. I'm also glad that Greg Duckett has turn this matter over to the TBI.I also know that the Justice Department has been given notice as to what is going on in Memphis.

We can not allow a rich lobbyist like Harold Sr. Who moved away from the city that made him to control our politics. Harold does not give a damn about what happens to Ophelia other than the fact that if she or others in their employ are involved in voter fraud, then Jr. Can kiss his chances at the senate goodbye.

When you see him playing the race card,remind him that every deck has two jokers. And he happens to be the big joker and Jr. Is the little one.

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