Tennessee politician John Ford gets 14 years
Once among Tennessee's most powerful politicians, known for his defiance and flamboyance, John Ford shuffled to the podium in leg shackles and made an uncharacteristic plea for mercy.
With his voice breaking, he told a federal court judge the last three years had been his most painful and humiliating, a shameful cap on more than three decades in public service.
At 66 and facing decades in prison, the former state senator from Memphis asked for leniency: not for himself,
but for his four children who are living with family, both their parents in jail and both the family's homes in
foreclosure.
"I'd like to have the opportunity to be with them again," Ford said softly, dabbing his teary eyes with a tissue.
But Ford will be 85 when he reaches the end of two federal prison terms for convictions related to money he
took while serving in the Tennessee legislature.
U.S. District Court Judge Todd J. Campbell sentenced him to a total of 19 years: 14 for wire fraud and five for
concealing facts. He will serve only 14 because the terms will be served at the same time. That sentence will not
begin until he finishes the 5½-year sentence he began serving in April for his role in the Tennessee Waltz
political scandal, which saw five legislators convicted on bribery-related charges.
Family members testify
Federal prosecutors said that Ford had put his office up for sale.
Ford resigned from the legislature in 2005 shortly after his indictment on corruption charges in an FBI
investigation called Tennessee Waltz.
In April 2007, he was convicted of bribery in that case for taking $55,000 from undercover agents pretending to
seek legislative favors for a computer recycling company.
Then he went to trial in federal court in July in a case that showed he held consulting contracts with two
TennCare contractors while he served on two Senate committees that oversaw TennCare. He was paid a total
of $800,000 by the firms and maintained he didn't know that what he was doing was illegal. His latest sentence
stems from that case.
Several family members testified in court Thursday, trying to spare Ford. He was a surrogate father to his
nieces and a guiding force for the family, said sister Joyce Ford-Miller. Ford's niece Vera Miller-Brown said there
is a notably empty seat at the family's huge Sunday dinner celebrations.
Prosecutor David Rivera said that families are often casualties of a defendant's crimes, and their pain was
brought about by Ford's greed.
While he was pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars, Ford owed more than $30,000 in back child support,
Rivera said.
"I hope (this sentence) goes a long way toward restoring the strength of the public's confidence in government,"
Rivera said.
Longer term was sought
The prison term was less than requested by Rivera but much longer than the three-year term requested by
Ford's attorney, federal public defender Isaiah "Skip" Gant.
"I can't believe that anyone who's lived on this earth for any extended period of time can believe that John Ford,
and anybody like him, has for 66 years done no good for nobody," Gant said. "When an individual has been in
public service, dedicated his life to the people, that should stand for something."
Ford's brother Joe Ford, speaking to reporters after the sentencing, said he was shocked by the sentence.
"I haven't really digested it yet," he said. "Fourteen years is a long time. But we're a tough family. We'll get
through it."
