Former State Sen. John Ford of Memphis continues to waltz toward the courtroom.
Ford, arrested in May 2005 during the FBI's Tennessee Waltz sting operation, already has a February 2007 trial date for those charges.
Now Ford faces additional charges in connection with consulting contracts with TennCare contractors.
Ford admits that he did "consulting" work for Doral Dental and Omnicare (now United American Health Care) at the same time he served as chairman of a legislative committee with oversight over the TennCare program.
Of the new charges, Ford says: "I categorically deny every allegation and charge they made. It's absolutely ridiculous. This is a rehashment of the (state legislature's) ethics investigation; they found nothing."
The indictment outlines work Ford did to help Doral win TennCare's sole contract to provide dental services to TennCare enrollees and contacts that Ford made with state officials for Omnicare to increase its revenue.
Ford told reporters. "I have done nothing wrong. As a citizen-legislator, you have a right to work, to earn a living. Every allegation they have made, I had a legitimate contract to work on."
An old political saying comes to mind: Follow the money trail. The money trail often leads to a personal (or family) financial conflict of interest.
There is no doubt that Ford has a right to work.
He apparently believes that with the "right" to work, there is also a right to use his elected office and insider connections in order to enrich himself while he "works" to help companies get no-bid contracts with the state.
After a period of time in office, too many elected officials "cross over" from providing honest public service to providing service for their or their family's personal financial gain.
That's why I think term limits are important.
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