The Final Shove

WMC/5's George Brown reports that State Senator John Ford had made the decision to resign his Senate seat weeks before he actually resigned on Saturday.

Ford said Tuesday that his Senate resignation on the last day of the session had nothing to do with the corruption charges. He said he began planning his resignation after the Legislature passed measures making it illegal for lawmakers to work as paid consultants. "I made up my mind then it was time to go," Ford said. "I didn't need to resign from the Senate because of these charges."

In other words, Ford had learned what Senator Ron Ramsey, Chairman of the Ethics Committee, flat out stated on Friday: that there were more than enough votes in the Senate to force him to resign, if not expel him. The indictments were just the final shove to a man headed out the door.

Ford's bond appeal hearing, where prosecutors wanted to increase the restrictions on him if they couldn't get him back in jail, left Ford's status largely unchanged. He gets an extra hour in the evening time (6PM instead of 5PM), but he's still confined to West Tennessee and cannot meet with any of the other indicted or potential witnesses.

If Ford and Bower are both convicted, can Shelby County sue them for the cost of the special elections their actions cause? After all, they would both be expected to know that conviction for illegal acts would remove them from office and trigger replacement elections, yes?

Just a thought.