Posted on 06/14/2007 7:46:42 AM PDT by SmithL
Dressed in a pressed navy suit, Odell Horton Jr. entered the federal courthouse in Downtown Memphis Wednesday afternoon.
For Horton, the former vice president and general counsel of Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division, his quirk of fate was unavoidable.
Seven weeks ago, on May 3, President George W. Bush signed a bill adding the name of Horton's father to the Clifford Davis Federal Building on North Main. The late Odell Horton Sr. served as the first African-American on the federal bench in Memphis.
But Horton wasn't visiting the building to honor his trailblazing father. He was there, under grand jury subpoena, to testify in a criminal investigation of MLGW and City Councilman Edmund Ford, who amassed a $16,000 utility bill without fear of disconnection.
What Horton told the grand jury in the 40 minutes he spent behind closed doors is unknown. He shook his head and simply said, "Nope," when asked to comment as he left.
But more than a month after Horton and president and CEO Joseph Lee III resigned from MLGW and three months after the City Council released its investigative report, Horton's appearance signaled the FBI inquiry of possible malfeasance at the utility continues unabated.
Throughout the MLGW billing scandal -- which involved Lee's personal protection of Ford's accounts and a secret list of political power brokers whose utility accounts were also guarded from cutoff -- Horton was the face of the public organization, appearing on television and speaking with reporters.
His usual response to specific questions: "I don't know."
In the scandal's wake, Horton resigned with Lee on May 4 after The Commercial Appeal exposed a deal Horton brokered for ratepayers to pay Lee's personal legal bills related to the FBI inquiry.
Based on the records and recordings federal authorities have subpoenaed from City Hall, investigators are focusing on the role Ford played in helping Lee become MLGW president in 2004.
Once in office, Lee allowed Ford's unpaid utility bills to swell without consequence.
A potential second prong of the FBI investigation involves Ford's landlord, Dennis Churchwell, who has testified before the grand jury.
In July 2005, Ford lobbied fellow council members to pass a special-use permit for Churchwell to store heavy equipment on real estate he owns on Elvis Presley. Ford never disclosed to the council his financial relationship with Churchwell.
The MLGW and Churchwell incidents will, if substantiated sufficiently for criminal charges, fit with a pattern of public corruption already alleged of Ford.
In November, federal prosecutors indicted Ford and fellow City Councilman Rickey Peete for taking bribes from lobbyist-turned-informant Joe Cooper in exchange for votes affecting billboard businessman William H. Thomas.
In that case, as in the two currently under investigation, Ford potentially received something of value in exchange for his official influence on the city dais.
In the MLGW case, federal investigators are questioning Ford's actions as Lee tried to win approval from the City Council to be MLGW's president.
From the start of Lee's bid, Ford was an ardent supporter of Mayor Willie Herenton's nominee.
During a Jan. 4, 2004, council Personnel Committee meeting, Ford showered praise on Lee.
"I feel that you are the best for any position," Ford said, adding: "I want to come back in four weeks and approve you as president of MLGW."
But the City Council decided to delay a vote on Lee -- who did not have utility experience -- to head MLGW. For that reason, Herenton created a seven-member search committee filled with civic and business leaders.
It included just one City Council member: Ford.
The committee offered favorable treatment to Lee, allowing his candidacy to progress despite Herenton's written instructions that the applicant have utility experience. What's more, Lee was the only candidate allowed to give a presentation to the full committee.
Collierville Mayor Linda Kerley, one of the seven committee members, testified before the grand jury about these irregularities on April 24.
"During the selection, I mentioned several times that Mr. Lee and about four or five other names that were on the list should not have gotten that far during the interview process, " Kerley told The Commercial Appeal in May.
Once Lee was selected by the search committee, his nomination went to the City Council again. Ford was there to lobby.
"I've talked to a few of you all, I really have," Ford said. "I want you to vote right today."
Voting right meant voting for Lee. That's what Ford told Councilman Tom Marshall in persuading him to cast the deciding vote in Lee's favor.
"Mr. Ford came to me and said he believed (a racial power struggle) was exactly where we were headed, and Mr. Lee's confirmation would help overcome that," Marshall said March 20.
Within months of the confirmation, Ford's debt to MLGW began to grow as Lee ordered the politician's accounts not to be cut off.
One year after Lee's appointment, Ford lobbied for another interest: a special-use permit to allow Churchwell to store heavy equipment on property across from Ford's funeral home.
Before the vote, Ford approached City Councilman Jack Sammons, asking him to support the permit. Since Ford's business was across the street from the property and Ford was likely to be the one most affected by any changes, Sammons figured a yea vote wouldn't do harm.
"I trusted that the man whose business was directly across the street was the one who would know whether that was an appropriate use of the land," Sammons said.
"Heck, call me naive, but I thought he owned that funeral home. Unbeknownst to me at the time, he doesn't own the property. He rents it from the guy who was asking for the zoning change."
For his part, Churchwell said the government didn't appear interested in his special-use permit when he testified before the grand jury. "They asked me about Ford's utility bill," he said. "And that's it."
Asked if he knew of the details of the FBI's ongoing investigation, Ford groaned.
"Don't you get me involved in all this mess," he said.
Another day and more corruption in Memphis...business as usual.
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