December 13, 2006 Edmund Ford Talks about Big Loans from Friends

Memphis is a city in a mess.

Indicted Memphis City Councilman Edmund Ford is still denying taking bribes. Instead, he explains that he is the fortunate recipient of very generous loans from developer friends.

Although Ford has declared bankruptcy several times, he has wealthy real estate developer "friends" who want to loan him money.

And to hear him tell it, the $40,000 loan from a developer friend to help him build his mortuary and the $50,000 loan from a developer friend to help purchase a Cadillac SUV have never influenced his vote on planning or zoning issues that come before the Council where these "friends" are involved.

The full story is here.

Developers make loans to an elected official who has no credit, who has to get someone else to co-sign a car loan, and who has declared bankruptcy numerous times. Why?

A recent letter to the editor in the Commercial Appeal from a city employee included this statement about the loans:

...I drive a 10-year-old Honda Accord that does the job just fine. I don't see Cooper or Rusty Hyneman lining up to co-sign and pay for my new Caddy, and I am a city employee whose job is just as important to our future as (Edmund) Ford's. It's just not profitable for Hyneman or Cooper, like unnecessary development and cars for drug dealers apparently are...

December 2, 2006 Public Corruption Arrests in Memphis

Shelby County /Memphis government officials have made the news again with more indictments for bribery.

Just a year or so after federal prosecutors issued Tennessee Waltz indictments against several Shelby County/Memphis officials, the most prominent of whom was State Sen. John Ford, operation "Main Street Sweeper" has resulted in bribery charges against two Memphis City Councilmen.

The indicted Memphis City Councilmen are Rickey Peete and Edmund Ford.

Does the second name have a familiar political ring?

Edmund Ford is former State Senator John Ford's brother. He is also Harold Ford, Sr.'s brother and Harold Ford Jr.'s uncle.

The mythical and powerful Ford machine now has the dubious distinction of having a family member indicted in the "Tennessee Waltz" scandal (John) and in the "Main Street Sweeper" scandal (Edmund).

In a separate investigation dubbed "Clean Sweep," former Shelby County Commissioner Joe Cooper was indicted for money laundering.

A news video about the arrests can be seen on Memphis TV. Click here for the video site. Then scroll down on the video list to the right of the media player screen and click on Criminal Complaint for the Peete, Ford, and Cooper video.

September 18, 2006 Tennessee Trivia Answers

And the answers to Friday's Tennessee Trivia Quiz are:

The smallest county in area in Tennessee is Trousdale (114 square miles).
The largest county in area in Tennessee is Shelby (755 square miles).

Shelby County is in west Tennessee, and Memphis is its county seat.

Trousdale is in middle Tennessee (just northeast of Davidson County/Nashville), and Hartsville is its county seat.