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Prosecutors eye Rolex to show a pattern of payoffs. Just when it seemed John Ford's legal troubles couldn't get worse, enter a $40,000 wristwatch of questionable origin. Federal prosecutors alleged Wednesday that Ford received the watch -- a diamond-studded Rolex Masterpiece -- in 2004 from prominent Memphis developer Rusty Hyneman. Ford once asserted he got the watch free of charge after using his influence to try to reduce state pollution fines levied against Hyneman, prosecutors said. Neither Hyneman nor Ford has been charged in connection with the watch transaction, yet prosecutors plan to use it as evidence that Ford, who...

There are more than five weeks to go before the midterm elections, and I'm already sick of the ubiquitous Senate campaign ads on TV -- especially those from the Johnny one-note former Chattanooga mayor Bob Corker. I know, I know, he's just doing the Republicans' well-practiced three-step shuffle -- repeating buzz words, labeling Democrats as evil people and ignoring the massive failures of the last six years. The spots that feature Corker's overbearing mother are quickly becoming as annoying as the "Head-On! Apply directly to the forehead!" ads. For this voter, who isn't exactly a fan of the Democratic candidate,...

John Ford says he's financially strapped, but the indicted former state senator is still living the high life, a lawyer argued Thursday. Ford applied for tags for a new, $80,000 Mercedes on the very day he filed court papers seeking a reduction in his court-ordered child support. Then, about four weeks ago, Ford bought a $40,000 BMW, said government child support attorney Joe Little. All the while, Little told a Juvenile Court judge, Ford has missed child support payments month after month and hidden bank and tax documents that detail his true income. "He has thumbed his nose at your...

Memphis Democrat's description of them as 'The Three Stooges' KNOXVILLE -- Larry, Curly and Moe, they ain't. Ed, Bob and Van -- Bryant, Corker and Hilleary, respectively -- were deadly serious about staking out their differences during Thursday's televised debate in Knoxville. The three Republicans running for the U.S. Senate metaphorically poked eyes, slapped faces and cracked skulls during the hour-long forum, but they took exception to the presumptive Democratic nominee's characterization of them as "The Three Stooges." After listening to a recording of a radio broadcast during which U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. of Memphis said, "The Stooges are...

MEMPHIS — The fight over Ophelia Ford's removal from the state Senate isn't over, even though a majority of senators voted for it, a federal judge said Tuesday. In granting a request from Ford to block appointment of an interim replacement by the Shelby County Commission, Judge Bernice Donald said she must decide if the Senate's decision to remove Ford was proper. "There may be no vacancy for the county to fill," Donald said. Ford won a special election to the Senate by 13 votes last year, but senators decided in April to overturn those results, citing evidence of two...

May 7--In the competitive race to fill the Senate seat of departing Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R), likely Democratic nominee Harold Ford continues to trail all three potential Republican opponents. Representative Van Hilleary now leads Ford 47% to 38%. Representative Ed Bryant leads Ford 44% to 36%. And Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker leads him 43% to 39%. Those numbers are little changed from our previous Tennessee election poll. Since the beginning of the year, the gaps between Ford and the Republicans have widened. Hilleary does a bit better among conservatives than Bryant or Corker. All four candidates are viewed...

The infamous North Memphis precinct where ballots were cast in the names of dead voters no longer exists. The Shelby County Election Commission has dissolved Precinct 27-1, consolidating it with an adjoining precinct. And all the 27-1 poll workers are barred from working future elections. "On its face, someone committed an illegal voting act,'' said commission Chairman Greg Duckett. "Until it's resolved ... we as a body felt it was important that no one affiliated with that ward and precinct works for the organization.'' A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation probe is in its fourth month following reports that someone used...

NASHVILLE -- After nearly two years of campaigning, U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. of Memphis made his candidacy for the U.S. Senate official today, filing qualifying papers at the Tennessee secretary of state's office at 11:56 a.m. The filing ends months of lingering speculation in some quarters on whether the five-term congressman would really leave his safe Democratic 9th District seat to make the uphill run for the other side of the U.S. Capitol. Still, Ford is only the second of the five major Senate candidates of both parties to file the documents to enter the race, with the qualifying...

A member of the Ford family has joined the race for Tennessee's Ninth District congressional seat, running, of all things, as an outsider. Joe Ford Jr., son of the Shelby County commissioner, filed Friday to run as a Democrat. A Los Angeles resident who left Memphis for college, Ford is moving back to the Ninth District to "give back to the community," he said. Ford, 32, who practices entertainment and contract law, said he brings real-world experience and is not a career politician. "I think a lot of things wrong with politics in Memphis and the state of Tennessee and...