Three senators may have to testify, judge rules

By BONNA de la CRUZ
Staff Writer, Tennessean. COM
January 25, 2006


MEMPHIS – Three state senators may have to testify in federal court later today about their involvement in the efforts to unseat state Sen. Ophelia Ford, but they will not be required to answer questions about how they would vote on the matter, a federal judge ruled this morning.

State Sens. Mark Norris, Curtis Person and Don McLeary are among the 14 senators in the courtroom this morning for the hearing on the Ford case. McLeary, of Humboldt, is the only Democrat among them – 11 other GOP senators are present in support of their party members Norris and Person.

Also present in the packed courtroom are Ford and other members of her family, which is one of the most politically prominent families in Tennessee; Bob Davis, the head of the Tennessee Republican Party; and state election coordinator Brook Thompson.

Norris, Person and McLeary were the only senators who were subpoenaed in the case. All three voted last week in a Senate committee to nullify Ford’s election, which she won by 13 votes — and in which a handful of ballots were cast in the names of dead voters. McLeary was the only Democrat to vote to nullify the election; Ford is also a Democrat.

The three men won’t be required to testify as to how they would have voted, had the Senate taken a final vote on whether to nullify Ford’s September election, but they may have to testify on other issues, U.S. District Judge Bernice Donald ruled this morning.

The state attorney general’s office, which is representing the three senators at today’s hearing, has argued this morning that Ford jumped the gun in filing her federal lawsuit to challenge the election, because the Senate had yet to take a final vote on the issue.

The state also argued the federal court has no authority to make a decision in the case, because the state Constitution says the Senate is the sole judge of the qualifications and elections of its members.

For more on this story, pick up tomorrow’s Tennessean.