TN State Senator John Ford; A Scandal Too Far

After months and months and scandal after scandal, Operation Tennessee Waltz put Tennesee State Senator John Ford over the brink. He resigned yesterday from a state Senate seat he had held for three decades.

Word of Ford’s resignation on the legislature’s last scheduled day in session sent shockwaves through an already punch-drunk General Assembly that has four of its members, including Ford, facing extortion, conspiracy and bribery charges. It also prompted Gov. Phil Bredesen to say he might call the legislature back to Nashville this year to tackle a political ethics overhaul.

I guess when one makes comments like the following comments during a recorded FBI sting one has no where it go but resignation.

Ford said if he caught someone trying to set him up he would shoot that person, kill them, so that there would be no witnesses.

[Ford] asked if [and undercover agent] and his “partner” were okay, because while he did not mind shooting the partner, he did not want to shoot [the undercover agent].

Senator John Ford’s indictment can be seen here.

Ford’s letter of resignation was short and sweet. He didn’t have to stay up too late at night writing this one.

Bill Hobbs states that Ford quit the Senate before they had a chance to throw him out on his ear. As the Tennessean reports:

Ford’s resignation comes just as the Senate’s Ethics Committee was preparing a six-count complaint against the Memphis senator that almost certainly would have lead to his impeachment.

“We would have had the votes to oust Sen. Ford from office,” Senate Majority Leader Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, said. Ramsey also said the ethics committee, which he chairs, came to this decision after months of research and hundreds of interviews.

After three decades in politics and all the sudden ethics scandals that swirled around Senator Ford one does wonder what else may have occurred over the years that was never discovered?

Michelle Malkin brings up an interesting point that the AP seems to have neglected to mention what party affiliation of Senator Ford.

State Sen. John Ford, a member of one of Tennessee’s most powerful political families, has resigned after being placed under house arrest facing charges from a two-year FBI sting, the lieutenant governor said Saturday.

Scared Monkeys is willing to tell its readers that John Ford was a DEMOCRAT. His nephew is Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. a DEMOCRAT as well who is looking to run for TN Senator Frist’s seat in 2006.

I am sure this was just a deliberate act over sight on the part of AP.

Update: 1754 Blog has some findings about the questionable reporting as well. Tomahawk, can we give CNN & Fox the benefit of the doubt that the Holiday staff is on this weekend? Nah.

Yes, Harold Ford, Jr. is the nephew of John Ford that we posted on Friday and spoke of his filing for the TN US Senate seat in “Timing is Everything“. Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall at this weekends Ford Memorial Day picnic?

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FBI Sting, Operation Tennessee Waltz, in the Volunteer State