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NASHVILLE - The state Capitol that John Ford left after his arrest in a nearby hotel on the morning of May 26, 2005, is a different place now than it was during his 31 years in the Senate. His former colleagues agreed that most of the changes are a direct legacy of his troubles with the law. Some lawmakers still flock to nightly receptions at area hotels put on by scores of statewide associations and packed with their members from back home anxious to meet with their representatives. Many of the 517 registered lobbyists still crowd the Capitol corridors trying...

Nashville, Tenn. (AP) -- Justin Timberlake won't be bringing sexy back to the Tennessee Legislature. State Sen. Ophelia Ford had introduced the resolution to honor Timberlake, a Tennessee native, "for his highly successful music career and for his meritorious service to the State of Tennessee." But Sen. Raymond Finney, R-Maryville, removed it from a list of resolutions that is expected to get unanimous support in the Senate. "It's not something I want my name on," Finney said. Republican senators took issue with calling attention to Timberlake's latest album, "FutureSex/LoveSounds" . . .

MEMPHIS — The state prosecutor at Memphis is deciding if indictments will be sought in the voting scandal surrounding Ophelia Ford's election to the Tennessee Senate. Prosecutor Bill Gibbons is reviewing a report from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation on the District 29 election in which two ballots were cast in the names of dead people. "There's a lot of material to review," Gibbons said Thursday. "If we feel indictments are appropriate we would submit that for consideration to the grand jury." Gibbons declined to say when he expects to make a decision. Ford is not accused of wrongdoing but...

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...

On Tuesday, Ford's attorney filed a lawsuit in federal court. Ford and several District 29 voters are asking for a judge to give Ford her district 29 Senate seat back. They're going after everyone from the Lieutenant Governor to the entire Shelby County Commission. The lawsuit says in a nutshell that the senate broke the law when it threw out the District 29 election. Last week, 26 state senators said Ford should be removed from office because there were too many lingering questions about the special election that put her in her seat. Today, a new lawsuit was filed saying...

MEMPHIS — The Republican challenger in a disputed election announced Monday he won’t seek an interim appointment to the seat Ophelia Ford lost last week when the state Senate nullified the vote. The Republican-controlled Shelby County Commission gets to name an interim senator to the District 29 seat after senators concluded the election was "incurably uncertain" because of ballots cast by felons, people who didn’t live in the district and in the names of dead voters. Earlier this year, the county commission chairman said he was inclined to nominate Republican Terry Roland, who lost the September election to Ford by...

ASHVILLE, Tenn. It didn't take long for the state Senate to erase signs that Ophelia Ford had been a member. But her lawyers are already working on a legal petition to get her back in. Yesterday, just a day after the Republican-controlled Senate voted to nullify the election that sent the Memphis Democrat to Nashville, Ford's name was absent from the Senate's voting board and her desk was vacant. The Senate voided Ford's 13-vote victory over Republican Terry Roland in a special election in September. Steven Mulroy, one of Ford's lawyers, says they'll likely take the case back to court.

She vows to take her case to federal court, win office in November vote NASHVILLE -- The Tennessee Senate voted 26-6 Wednesday to void the District 29 election, but ousted senator Ophelia Ford vowed to challenge the action in federal court today -- and to win election in November. There was a bit of high drama after the vote as Ford initially did not leave the chamber during a recess designed to let her exit gracefully. But after a few minutes, she addressed the Senate, collected her things and left. "I just thank and praise God that He chose me...

NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Senate voted 26-6 on Wednesday to unseat Sen. Ophelia Ford, accepting the recommendation of a committee that found her election "incurably uncertain." The Senate, led by its GOP majority, voided the Memphis Democrat’s 13-vote victory over Republican Terry Roland in a September special election after a federal judge on Tuesday declined to intervene. An investigative committee, which has been at work since late last year, recommended Ford be ousted after finding the election results were "incurably uncertain" because of 12 improper ballots. Two were cast in the names of voters and others came from felons and...

NASHVILLE — The Senate should void a special election that put a Memphis Democrat into office, a committee looking into claims of voting irregularities recommended Thursday. Sen. Ophelia Ford was certified the 13-vote winner of the September election, but it was immediately challenged by the Republican candidate. A special Senate committee looking into the case voted 4-1 Thursday that there was enough evidence to conclude her margin of victory was in doubt because of ballots cast in the names of dead voters, felons and people who didn’t live in the district. The matter now goes to the full Senate, which...

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...

This is a verbatim transcript of Sen. Ford's remarks to reporters as she was leaving the Senate committee examining her election Thursday. "Nothing like this has ever happened before, that's why God is using me _ little old me _ to make needed laws that needed to be changed. It's not just affecting our state, it's going to affect our whole country with laws needing to have been change. They had to come upon a way to do it. What can they do but something like that? I think they're doing the very best that they can, my colleagues, I...

NASHVILLE - Tennessee law may make it difficult to discard votes in the disputed state Senate District 29 special election that were cast by anyone not living in the district, some senators said Tuesday. In Tennessee, people can lawfully vote in their old districts after they have moved if they profess an intention to move back there in the future, said Sen. Doug Jackson, D-Dickson. "We've had testimony from the state election coordinator that in Tennessee 'home is where the heart is,' " Jackson said at a meeting of the Senate State and Local Government Committee. The Senate initially voted...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. Attorneys representing state senators plan to appeal a federal judge's ruling on Senator Ophelia Ford's disputed election victory. The senators want to void the special election amid allegations of vote fraud. State Attorney General Paul Summers' office is representing the Senate in the lawsuit filed by Ford. He filed a notice of appeal with Memphis federal District Court Judge Bernice Donald. Summers' spokeswoman Sharon Curtis-Flair told The Commercial Appeal (newspaper) the attorney general plans to file the full appeal within days. The notice of appeal did not give specifics, but the state plans to claim that the Senate...

PRINT THIS STORY | E-MAIL THIS STORY Thirteen more votes may be illegal Senate Republican gets data on Dist. 29 from private eye By Marc Perrusquia Contact February 7, 2006 Days after a federal judge put up a roadblock, Senate Republicans are moving forward to void the Dist. 29 election -- armed this time with new allegations of 13 illegal votes. Senate majority leader Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, said Monday he's received details compiled by a private investigator on 13 people who don't live in the district but voted in the election won by Ophelia Ford. One of the 13 is...

NASHVILLE - The Senate effort to oust a newly elected Democrat will be moving slower in order to comply with a federal judge's ruling, the chamber's top Republican said Thursday. Senate Majority Leader Ron Ramsey, the leader of the push to oust Sen. Ophelia Ford, said he's not sure when he'll be able to reintroduce a resolution to void the election. "I don't know. It could be a week, it could be two weeks," Ramsey said. "The bottom line is we have to do it right because we do have a judge looking over our shoulder." Senate Republicans, arguing that...

MEMPHIS — The inspector in charge of supervising Election Day work at the precinct where at least two ballots were cast in the names of dead people last fall was convicted of forgery in 1987, criminal records show. Eddie Hayes, 58, has worked for 20 years a part-time inspector for the Shelby County Election Commission, but found no problems at the North Memphis precinct where several disputed ballots were cast in the special election won by state Sen. Ophelia Ford by just 13 votes. Hayes, who has not been accused of wrongdoing in the voting irregularities, also works as a...

Wednesday, Sen. Ophelia Ford was in a federal courtroom in Memphis fighting to keep her State Senate seat, but even though only three senators were subpoena to be there, more than half of the State Senate showed up in Memphis. The judge said she would make a final decision by Wednesday of next week, and until then senators can not void the election of Sen. Ford. Senators were supposed to be debating an ethics bill on Wednesday, but all 17 senatos who voted to void the election went to support their colleagues in Memphis. 16 Republicans and one Democrat went...

If nothing else, Sen. Ophelia Ford’s lawsuit against the state Senate alleging racism in that body’s vote to void her election will have profound and unwelcome repercussions for Rep. Harold Ford Jr.’s run for the U.S. Senate. Ford sued the state Senate last week after a largely partisan vote to kick her out of office based on irregularities in the close election. Ford got to run that race because her brother, former Sen. John Ford, resigned in the wake of his indictment in the FBI’s Tennessee Waltz sting. Rep. Ford was already battling the perception that his uncle is crooked...

NASHVILLE - Ophelia Ford won the election to replace her brother in the Tennessee Senate by a mere 13 votes in September, and her hold on the seat remains tenuous. Senate Republicans tried to void her election last week, but a federal judge halted that effort and will hold a hearing on the matter today. Ford's Memphis district is predominantly black, and she has decried the move to void the election as a racist power grab. Republicans have complained that felons and nonresidents were allowed to vote in the election, and The Commercial Appeal newspaper found two ballots cast in...