John N. Ford Born: May 3, 1942 John N. Ford (born May 3, 1942) is a funeral director, insurance agent, and consultant in Memphis, Tennessee. He is a former Democratic member of the Tennessee State Senate, representing District 29, and the brother of former U.S. Representative Harold Ford and hence the uncle of current Tennessee U.S. Representative Harold Ford, Jr. Ford resigned from the Tennessee State Senate on May 28, 2005 in a letter to the Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee, John S. Wilder, and is currently under FBI house arrest. He stated in his letter of resignation that "I plan to spend the rest of my time with my family clearing my name".

Ford is from Memphis' most prominent and active African American political family. The Fords' involvement in politics is generally thought to have been linked to the connection between John and Harold, Sr.'s father, N. J. Ford, to the late former Memphis political "boss" E. H. Crump. Crump is widely considered to have been responsible for directing the business of the families of black persons who died unattended in the former City of Memphis Hospital to N. J. Ford's funeral home (still operated under the name "N. J. Ford and Sons Funeral Home", although N. J. Ford himself is now deceased).

Four of N. J. Ford's sons became very active in elective politics. Harold became, in 1976, the first African American elected to Congress from the Southeast since Reconstruction, and served until 1997, when he was succeeded by his son. Another brother, Joe, has long been involved in local politics in and around Memphis, with varying degrees of success; a fourth, James, is currently a Shelby County commissioner. John Ford was a Tennessee state senator for over 30 years.

Early life

As a young man, Ford graduated from the former Geeter High School in 1960. He then attended Tennessee State University in Nashville, graduating with a bachelor's degree (1964). He also attended John A. Gupton College in Nashville, receiving a associate's degree in mortuary science, which qualified him to apply for a license as a funeral director. He later attended Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) and earned a master's degree (1976). During this time, he was active in Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in which he is now a life member. He became involved in the Scouting movement. He was apparently more interested in his father's funeral home business than his brothers and has long served as its president. While still in his 20's he became one of the youngest persons ever elected to the Memphis City Council.

Political career

Ford was elected to the Tennessee State Senate in 1974, the first election in his district to occur after his having reached the constitutionally-mandated age of 30, two years before his brother's election to the U.S. House. He became almost immediately identified with a very direct, abrupt style which his critics felt to be arrogant and abrasive. This tended to further endear him to his constituents, however, who lived in one of Tennessee's most impoverished districts, southwestern Shelby County. The constituents in this large African American population have re-elected Ford to his office seven times. He has served his constituents in the Senate for over thirty years.

In the Senate, Ford became chairman of the General Welfare, Health, and Human Resources Committee, and the chair of several subcommittees as well. The Welfare position, already powerful when he attained it, became a base for his becoming recognized as one of the most powerful Tennessee senators. He also became an expert in the managed care TennCare program when it was initiated by former governor Ned McWherter. Ford also became prominent in the National Conference of State Legislators and the National Caucus of Black State Legislators, and served for a period as chairman of the Shelby County legislative delegation. He also served one term as Speaker pro tem of the Senate.

Controversy

Ford seemed to relish his legislative immunity and has been a frequent sight along Interstate 40 between Memphis and Nashville, often driving at speeds well in excess of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h). This practice caused him some difficulty in 1990, when he was accused of shooting at a truck driver while driving at this speed; an all-white jury in rural West Tennessee eventually acquitted him of any wrongdoing in this matter. Later in the 1990s he was accused of pulling a gun on a work crew of the MLG&W utility; for this he eventually accepted a plea bargain resulting in 250 hours community service time.

Rumor and innuendo long continued to swirl about Ford. In early 2005 it was revealed that a bill which he sponsored changing the way in which child support payments were figured was of great benefit to him personally, due to the complex nature of his personal life. He shared his life with both a former wife and a mistress expecting children by him simultaneously (one had previously been charged with assaulting the other), alternating his time between two separate residences (neither of which was located in the district he represents, although the funeral home, which is his legal residence, is). The existence of yet another child from a previous extramarital relationship with a third woman was revealed as well. In another circumstance touted by detractors as an ethical violation, Ford had also co-sponsored a bill preventing furniture dealers and others who were not licensed funeral directors from selling caskets, which his critics pointed to as an obvious conflict of interest, since Ford and other funeral directors would be the sole beneficiaries of such legislation, and any benefit to the consuming public deriving from such a bill was difficult, if not impossible, to demonstrate. In April 2005 the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance found Ford to be guilty of having used campaign funds to pay for a daughter's rather elaborate wedding reception; the amount of the fine, $10,000, was considerably larger than the amount of fines typically levied by the body, but critics pointed out that it was still considerably less than the amount of campaign funds spent on the reception ($15,000+). Ford's defense was that a large number of the people invited to the reception, at least 100, were constituents and hence the event was held at least in part to aid his relationships with them.

Hearings were also held in 2005 about whether Ford's apparent failure to disclose considerable sums of consultancy fees paid him by some insurance concerns involved with TennCare constituted an ethical violation. Ford stated that such a failure was inadvertent and that the fees were for helping the companies get contracts similar to those with TennCare in other states and were not bribery for his assistance in getting them the Tennessee contracts.

On May 26, 2005, one day after his nephew announced his candidacy for the United States Senate, Ford was arrested by the FBI, along with two other Tennessee state senators, a Tennessee state representative, a former state senator, a Chattanooga school board member, and an African American political activist, for alleged participation in a bribery scheme utilizing a "sting" operation involving a bogus electronics recycling company lobbying for favorable treatment under state law. The other politicians were released on bond; Ford, who purportedly was heard on tape saying words to the effect of, "If you're working for the FBI, I'll shoot you," to one of the agents involved in the sting, was held overnight at the Federal Detention Facility in Mason, Tennessee, about 30 miles northwest of Memphis. As a condition of the bail he was allowed to make the next day, he was required to surrender his passport, not carry a firearm, and not leave West Tennessee (technically, not to leave the federal court's Western District of Tennessee, coextensive with West Tennessee except that it also includes Perry County in Middle Tennessee as well). He was also ordered to appear again in court on May 31, which he did; at this hearing the government's request to revoke or increase his bail was denied but the terms of his house arrest were continued unmodified.

On April 27, 2007, John Ford was convicted by a federal jury in Memphis of accepting $55,000 in bribes. However, the jury deadlocked on the more serious charge of extortion, creating a mistrial on that count. He was acquitted on three counts of witness intimidation.

On August 28, 2007, Ford was sentenced to 66 months in federal prison to be followed by two years of supervised release. Ford is also facing corruption charges in Nashville, TN for accepting bribes totaling over $800,000.00 from medical contractors doing business with the State. In a press conference after the sentencing hearing FBI Agent in Charge My Harrison credited agents Brian Burns and Mark Jackson with excellence in detective work related to Operation Tennessee Waltz which resulted in a ten for ten conviction record against public officials engaged in using public office for private gain through bribery. One defendant remains to be tried in Operation Tennessee Waltz.

On April 29, 2008, Ford reported to prison in Louisiana.

On April 14, 2011, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a portion of the convictions against Ford on jurisdictional grounds

Source:  www.wikipedia.com