Lobbying, legislating -- volatile Ford mix: Issues of impropriety as Sr., Jr. party with Pegasus

Memphis Commercial Appeal ^ | 10/12/6 | Halimah Abdullah

[SmithL]

U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. shares more than a name with his father.

The two also share an intense interest in some of the same social and political issues -- the younger as a legislator, the elder as a lobbyist.

But when those two paths cross, political experts say, the result is an uncomfortable relationship that raises questions of impropriety.

Public records obtained by The Commercial Appeal show that Congressman Ford took a paid trip funded by one of his father's clients, Pegasus Airwave, a medical supply company with offices in Boca Raton, Fla. While federal records of gifts of private travel list the purpose of Ford's Florida trip as a speaking engagement, current and former staffers for the company said the younger Ford was actually a guest at a Christmas party.

Ford said that as a House member he is often asked to attend speaking engagements and he sees no conflict of interest in attending the event.

"Neither my father nor any member of my family has ever lobbied me, nor will I allow them to," he told The Commercial Appeal last week and reiterated again during Tuesday night's debate in Chattanooga.

It could not be determined Wednesday whether Ford had ever voted for or sat on any committee that would have affected Pegasus.

In December of 2000, Harold Ford Sr. was slated to attend a Pegasus Airwave Christmas party, according to company officials. The elder Ford, who has a home on Fisher Island near Miami, and son were looking forward to spending some time together during the holiday season, Ford Sr. said.

So Pegasus officials paid $1,169 to fly Ford Jr. to Miami and an additional $809 for his lodging so that he could attend the party.

"The fact is that I had to have the dad there," said Redus Smith, a former chief operating officer with Pegasus. "So we brought (Congressman Ford) down. He attended and we asked him to say a few words. The organization was in a building stage and we needed some positive images."

Pegasus officials said Ford Jr. is the only legislator to ever address the company.

That same year, Pegasus hired Ford Sr. to help with issues including helping pitch the Altern-8, a wheelchair cushion, to the Veterans Administration, according to the Secretary of the Senate's Office of Public Records.

The Department of Veterans Affairs contracted with Pegasus in 1999 for a four-year contract and bought air mattresses designed for patients with pressure sores, burns and skin grafts. Over the next four years the company received at least $3.4 million worth of business, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The senior Ford's company earned $1.1 million through lobbying efforts on the company's behalf, according to figures compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research group in Washington that tracks money in politics and its effect on elections and public policy.

"I think it's a legitimate issue," said Massie Ritch, a spokesman with the Center for Responsive Politics. "I think it's up to the current Congressman Ford to make sure he isn't giving preferential treatment to his father."

In 2003, MSN Money published a list of 34 legislators with lobbyist family ties including Ford Sr.; Randolph Delay, former Rep. Tom Delay's brother; and Bob Dole, Sen. Elizabeth Dole's husband.

Republican Senate candidate and former Chattanooga mayor Bob Corker voiced similar concerns over the relationship between the elder and younger Fords during the Senate debate with Ford Jr. in Chattanooga.

"When you went on the Financial Services Committee ... why was it that within 60 days, your dad became the lobbyist for Fannie Mae?" Corker asked.

Ford Jr. joined the Financial Services committee in 2001. That same year, Fannie Mae paid the Harold Ford Group, the senior Ford's lobbying firm, $20,000 to create offices throughout the nation and lobby for affordable housing issues. Between 2001 and 2004 his firm received $240,000, according to the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan public policy research group in Washington.

"At a minimum, both of these create the appearance of impropriety," said campaign spokesman Todd Womack. "Even more importantly, it points to the fact that the Ford political machine is part of the Washington insider culture that Tennesseans find detestable."

Ford Jr.'s supporters reject the implication and say the lawmaker's voting record in favor of the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act, which seeks to overhaul Fannie Mae, is evidence that in the halls of Congress Ford is his own man.

"I've never lobbied my son in reference to Fannie Mae or any other issues," said Ford Sr. "Bob Corker knows that. What kind of man attacks another man's father?"

[geezerwheezer]

Wow, this is an interesting problem for Mr. Ford, both Junior and Senior. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and swims like a duck, chances are it is a duck. Ford will be having a head-on collision due to his corruptable and questionable dealings with his Daddy dearest! Corker should just unload all of the facts on these two, and watch them both run for cover from the voters.

[GailA]

This is just as bad as his partying with the playboy bunnies.

JUNIOR THE LIBERAL'S VOTING RECORD