Uncle of Rep. Ford is charged
Two city councilmen, including the uncle of U.S. Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr., were charged Thursday with taking thousands of dollars in bribes for their votes to allow new billboards.
Memphis Councilmen Edmund Ford and Rickey Peete face federal charges that they took nearly $7,000 and $12,000, respectively, from an informant.
Edmund Ford comes from a prominent political family in Memphis: His brother is former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Sr., the first black congressman in Tennessee, and his nephew is Ford Jr., the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in November.
The FBI says the informant paid the councilmen between Aug. 30 and Oct. 27 in exchange for votes on a real estate proposal and the repeal of a moratorium on billboards in the city.
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