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Daily Dose for June 24, 2008
Memphis Mayor Under FBI Probe
Memphis Mayor Under FBI Probe -- There are signs that an FBI probe into a city contractor with links to Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton, is expanding. In recent months, a federal grand jury and the FBI have seized records detailing how a friend of the mayor, Elvin W. Moon, won a no-bid city road design contracts and another contract at Memphis Area Transit Authority. Now the feds are looking at Lee's Landing Garage, an $8 million, six-story parking garage strategically nestled on city land between Beale and the posh Westin Hotel. Construction of the garage, though private, required the mayor's authorization. It's unknown what federal investigators are looking for but Herenton maintains they'll find only innocent circumstances. Herenton called the investigation "crazy."
US Supremes Take Up TN Case -- The U.S. Supreme Court will take up the case of Edward Jerome Harbison from Tennessee and consider if poor death row inmates seeking mercy from state officials have a right to lawyers paid for by federal taxpayers. Federal appeals courts have taken different positions on the issue, making the case a good one for the court to resolve. The Bush administration wants the justices to decide that federal law for indigent capital defendants does not extend taxpayer support to inmates' efforts to win clemency. Harbison's execution, like other executions scheduled in TN, is on hold pending an appeal by the state.
Bredesen Cites More Buyouts to Faulty Math -- Gov. Phil Bredesen says the state needs to buy-out 2,277 workers now instead of the 2,011determined at the time of budget talks, because calculations on the number of buyouts were based on salary averages instead of actual salaries. Bredesen: "When they got down and did the detailed work on the thing, they had a slightly higher number presumably because some of the state salaries were on the average lower." Bredesen also said some of the calculation discrepency could be because of federal funds being mixed in for some salaries.
Bredesen Will Testify in Ford's Trial -- It's another trial for former State Sen. John Ford. This one over Ford's questionable lobbying work with TennCare subcontractors while he served on a TennCare oversight committee. This time, however, a prosecution witness with be Gov. Bredesen. Bredesen will testify that Ford lobbied him to get more TennCare patients assigned to OmniCare, an HMO that had hired Ford as a consultant. At the time Bredesen thought Ford was lobbying him for the benefit of a constituent, not as a paid consultant. Ford's trial is expected to last as long as three weeks. More here and here.
