Tennessee Waltz

I've been sort of loosely following the corruption case that's been going on here in my neck of the woods, the "Tennessee Waltz," and thought I'd give you a quick update, but first a recap. In case you missed it, "Tennessee Waltz" is the name of an FBI sting that nabbed seven people, five of them current or former Tennessee legislators, in a bribery and corruption conspiracy. The seven were arrested on May 26 and are accused of accepting bribes for passing legislation favorable to a company called E-Cycle Management. E-Cycle, it turns out, was a dummy company set up by the FBI.

State Senator John Ford, D-Memphis, (make that former state senator - he resigned on May 28) is the man at the center of the investigation. He was caught on videotape accepting a $10,000 payment and threatening to kill anyone who might be trying to set him up. Ford is the brother of former U.S. Representative Harold Ford Sr. and the uncle of current U.S. Representative Harold Ford Jr. The younger Ford had just announced on May 25 that he would be running for Bill Frist's Senate seat in 2006. John Ford's sister, Ophelia Ford, is one of 21 candidates running to fill his vacated seat.

John Ford is quite a colorful character who has had numerous brushes with the law. He was being investigated by the Tennessee Senate Ethics Committee at the time of his arrest for several different infractions. He would have likely been ousted from the Senate had he not resigned, but by resigning is able to receive a lifetime pension. At the time of his resignation, he said, "I plan to spend the rest of my time with my family clearing my name." It was unclear which family he meant. He lives in one home with his ex-wife and maintains another home with a girlfriend. Neither home is in the district he represents.

The others caught in the sting were Sen. Katherine Bowers, D-Memphis; Sen. Ward Crutchfield, D-Chattanooga; Rep. Chris Newton, R-Cleveland; and former state senator Roscoe Dixon. Two others, Barry Myers of Memphis and Charles Love of Chattanooga, are accused of being "bagmen" and go-betweens between the company and receptive lawmakers.

Anyway, an update: Dixon was arraigned today and pleaded not guilty. Six of the seven have been arraigned; all have pleaded not guilty. Only Newton has not yet been arraigned. On June 22, a hearing will be held to set trial dates for Bowers, Love, and Ford.

If you'd like to learn more, this Tennessean article is a good place to start. On the day after the arrests, I wrote this blog entry which has more links.

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