Posted on 05/16/2007 7:48:42 AM PDT by SmithL
NASHVILLE -- State Sen. Ophelia Ford of Memphis raised eyebrows during a legislative hearing Monday when she launched into a rant against child-protective service officials and a state auditor.
The public hearing focused on a performance audit of the Division of Child Protective Services of the state Department of Children's Services. The audit contained only one finding: That the agency did not complete some investigations of child deaths within the 60 days set out in state policy.
But Ford, a Democrat, pressed DCS officials about death certificates and other matters that seemed to have little relevance to the hearing, even though they told her repeatedly that their agency has nothing to do with death certificates.
With her voice rising, Ford at one point called the officials' remarks "absolutely dumb" and said they "make no sense." She repeatedly told them, "What you're talkin' about ain't hittin' on nothin' with me."
Ford, 56, is back in Nashville after missing much of the 2007 legislative session, which she attributed to health problems, including anemia. She did not attend a meeting Tuesday of the Senate General Welfare Committee, on which she sits, and aides said she had returned to her hotel room after feeling ill. She could not be reached for comment.
Monday's hearing was conducted by a subcommittee of the House-Senate Government Operations Committee. After the two-hour hearing, the subcommittee said the agency is improving and recommended that it be renewed for another year.
State auditor Dean Agouridis presented the performance audit's findings, and three DCS officials responded: commissioner Viola Miller, general counsel Stacy Miller and Shalonda Cawthon, director of child safety.
Most of the lawmakers' questions focused on issues raised by the audit. After arriving a few minutes late, Ford first questioned the auditor about matters that the chairman, Sen. Bo Watson, R-Chattanooga, told her should be directed at DCS.
Half an hour later, the hearing moved to a discussion about the 60-day deadline to complete a child-death investigation, how medical examiners are responsible for determining cause of death, and DCS's continued responsibility to protect other children in the home.
Ford asked about death certificates: "Now there's a 48-hour turnaround time for a death certificate for someone to be buried. What are you talking about with all these 60 days? Is a person buried? Is it 'pending' on the death certificate? What are you saying?"
The senator pressed on, after the DCS lawyer told her three times that DCS has nothing to do with issuing death certificates. Said Ford: "I can't believe you four would not know the answer to that. You need to get better knowledged about it."
Watson, the subcommittee chairman, said Tuesday that he gives members latitude to ask questions, but he wasn't exactly sure of Ford's intent.
"There may have been another issue she was trying to get around to. I don't know if she fully understood what they were testifying about, and perhaps she was confused with another issue. I don't know."
Sen. Ophelia Ford's dialogue with state DCS officials
During a hearing in Nashville Monday state Sen. Ophelia Ford of Memphis blasted four witnesses, leaving others in the room speechless.
Ford: Now there's a 48-hour turnaround time for a death certificate for someone to be buried. What are you talking about with all these 60 days? Is a person buried? Is it 'pending' on the death certificate? What are you saying?
DCS general counsel: We have nothing to do with the death certificates.
Ford (interrupting): The funeral directors are the ones that has everything to do with the death certificate. We have to turn them around in 48 hours.
Lawyer: But it has nothing to do with us. The medical examiner does that. They determine the cause of death.
Ford: Would it be 'pending' on there or would the child be buried?
Lawyer: You would have to ask the medical examiner that. We have nothing to do with that.
Ford: I can't believe you don't know the answer to that.
Lawyer: It has nothing to do with the Department of Children's Services, with all due respect Sen. Ford.
Ford: Undoubtedly it must have something on it because a death certificate has to be turned around in 48 hours in the state of Tennessee – really around the country. I know because I sit on the boards of the National Funeral Directors and Morticians Association. And I can't believe you four would not know the answer to that. You need to get better knowledged about it.
A few moments later, Ford continued:
Ford: I don't care what you're talking about. I don't care what you're saying right now. Or the rest of you all are either. You need to get with funeral directors. And you need to know what's going on. You don't know how many children we bury. And you don't know how hard it is to get death certificates. You don't know how hard it is.
And what you're talking about ain't hittin' on nothing with me as a certified funeral service practitioner. What you're sayin' ain't hittin' on nothin'! And you guys need to get better and you need to get more educated.
So what you're sayin' to me is absolutely dumb! Excuse my expression, but it is. It doesn't even make sense to me with all the children we're burying. And we've got one of the largest funeral homes in Tennessee – probably in the country.
So what you're talking about ain't hittin' on nothin' with Senator Ford! Get yourselves better educated! And you get with the people you need to get with. You get with the professional associations that you need to get with, instead of what you're talking about that don't even make no sense."
Wow. Just . . . wow. And she denies it.
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