Another Ford made his mark Thursday night in Memphis as the returns trickled in from the board of elections. Edmund Ford Jr, cousin of the imfamous Harold Ford Jr, the worst corporate whore in the history of the Congressional Black Caucus, was coming in first in his District 6 City Council race. He faces a run-off with Dr. James Ketchings.
A Ford with bad timing, Edmund Jr is running to replace his daddy on the council, a funeral director with a penchant for accepting bribes. It seems that Edmund Sr has been indicted, along with another council colleague, in a federal bribery probe separate from the one his brother, former State Senator John Ford, was caught up in.
Also in today’s news, it seems that former Congressman Harold Ford Sr’s right to vote is being called into question. The elder Ford, the first African American elected to congress from Tennessee since reconstruction, is now a corporate lobbyist and fixer, has been living full-time in Florida in a lavish $2.5 million dollar estate and has claimed it as his primary residence. Seems that could pose a problem with retaining his voter registration in Tennessee.
Lastly, Memphis’ long-term Mayor Willie Herenton, the first black elected Mayor in Memphis, was handily re-elected to a fifth term despite strong bi-racial opposition. With 99% of precincts reporting, Mayor Herenton was re-elected with 69,626 votes to Councilwoman Carol Chumney’s 57,061 and Herman Morris’s 35,068. Mayor Herenton remains undefeated and the undisputed choice of the African American voter.