FAST FACTS:
Scott.Noll@wreg.com
( Nashville, TN 2/18/2010) State Senator Ophelia Ford's return to the state legislature made headlines this week. But after On Your Side Investigators tried asking the Memphis lawmaker about a bill she sponsored, it became obvious she has some catching up to do.
Ford missed more than a month of the legislative session as she recovered from an undisclosed illness. But if you think it was all rest and recovery for the senator, you might be wrong. Ford is listed as having sponsored 15 bills in the senate this year.
"They (the doctors) told me, hey, knock 'em dead," said Ford Wednesday. She sounded like she'd come out swinging, but when On Your Side Investigators asked Ford about Senate Bill 3422, which would ban the sale of human breast milk, we learned the senator wasn't quite back in the swing of things yet.
"I don't know anything about the bill yet," Ford explained.
So we showed Ford the bill she filed as a sponsor in the senate three weeks ago. She told us she has plenty of questions about it, and wasn't ready to talk publicly about the proposed ban.
"Please allow me to get myself a little more educated about what women think," said Ford. "What women want to do because that's really a woman's issue."
The lawmaker explained that the bill was one of a package that State Representative, and fellow Memphian, Joe Towns Jr. asked Ford to sponsor on the senate side. Ford told us since she'd been out sick, she needed time to get details.
As for her illness, Ford isn't saying much about that either.
"I'm a senator," Ford said when asked about her symptoms. "You wouldn't ask me personal questions that way and I'm sure the public doesn't want to know that personal, that much of a personal thing. I think the public is just glad to see me."
Back to the issue of blindly sponsoring bills, and veteran lawmakers say it happens more than you think. Rufus Jones served 16 years in the state house.
"It's the way the business is conducted in Nashville," said Jones. He admits he agreed to sponsor bills without knowing what was inside during his days in the state house. It's something that lawmakers call accommodation; a way to help out colleagues or constituents get their proposals heard in the house and senate. But Shea Flinn, who was appointed and served three months in the state senate says, in some cases those relationships have another side.
"If you really want to hear something because it would help out a large donor in your district or special interest group in your district you just need your buddy over in the senate to sign-on to say you were fighting for it," explained Flinn.
Jones admits the blind-sponsoring of bills just to get them heard can slow down government. However, he's quick to point out that sponsorship is a long way from a bill becoming a law.
"It's debated in all three of those forms," said Jones. "It's kind of hard to put just anything over on folks."
We asked Senator Jim Kyle, the Democratic leader in the senate, about the issue. Kyle says he reads all bills before signing on as a sponsor. But, by phone, the Memphis lawmaker said he doesn't have a problem with blind sponsorship.
"We filed over 3,000 bills this session," explained Sen. Kyle. "Of them, 500 or 600 will actually be passed. That tells you there's 2,500 ideas that did not go somewhere, but were part of the public debate. That's a positive thing."
14 years after his last session on the hill, Jones says the question of whether or not sponsoring a bill you know nothing about is good government is up to each voter.
"I'm going to let you and other folks decide what is good government, what is moral or correct."
- State Senator Ophelia Ford sponsored 15 bills while away from the senate because of illness
- When asked, Ford admitted she didn't know anything about at least one of the bills
- Lawmakers say blindly sponsoring of bills is a common practice
Scott.Noll@wreg.com
( Nashville, TN 2/18/2010) State Senator Ophelia Ford's return to the state legislature made headlines this week. But after On Your Side Investigators tried asking the Memphis lawmaker about a bill she sponsored, it became obvious she has some catching up to do.
Ford missed more than a month of the legislative session as she recovered from an undisclosed illness. But if you think it was all rest and recovery for the senator, you might be wrong. Ford is listed as having sponsored 15 bills in the senate this year.
"They (the doctors) told me, hey, knock 'em dead," said Ford Wednesday. She sounded like she'd come out swinging, but when On Your Side Investigators asked Ford about Senate Bill 3422, which would ban the sale of human breast milk, we learned the senator wasn't quite back in the swing of things yet.
"I don't know anything about the bill yet," Ford explained.
So we showed Ford the bill she filed as a sponsor in the senate three weeks ago. She told us she has plenty of questions about it, and wasn't ready to talk publicly about the proposed ban.
"Please allow me to get myself a little more educated about what women think," said Ford. "What women want to do because that's really a woman's issue."
The lawmaker explained that the bill was one of a package that State Representative, and fellow Memphian, Joe Towns Jr. asked Ford to sponsor on the senate side. Ford told us since she'd been out sick, she needed time to get details.
As for her illness, Ford isn't saying much about that either.
"I'm a senator," Ford said when asked about her symptoms. "You wouldn't ask me personal questions that way and I'm sure the public doesn't want to know that personal, that much of a personal thing. I think the public is just glad to see me."
Back to the issue of blindly sponsoring bills, and veteran lawmakers say it happens more than you think. Rufus Jones served 16 years in the state house.
"It's the way the business is conducted in Nashville," said Jones. He admits he agreed to sponsor bills without knowing what was inside during his days in the state house. It's something that lawmakers call accommodation; a way to help out colleagues or constituents get their proposals heard in the house and senate. But Shea Flinn, who was appointed and served three months in the state senate says, in some cases those relationships have another side.
"If you really want to hear something because it would help out a large donor in your district or special interest group in your district you just need your buddy over in the senate to sign-on to say you were fighting for it," explained Flinn.
Jones admits the blind-sponsoring of bills just to get them heard can slow down government. However, he's quick to point out that sponsorship is a long way from a bill becoming a law.
"It's debated in all three of those forms," said Jones. "It's kind of hard to put just anything over on folks."
We asked Senator Jim Kyle, the Democratic leader in the senate, about the issue. Kyle says he reads all bills before signing on as a sponsor. But, by phone, the Memphis lawmaker said he doesn't have a problem with blind sponsorship.
"We filed over 3,000 bills this session," explained Sen. Kyle. "Of them, 500 or 600 will actually be passed. That tells you there's 2,500 ideas that did not go somewhere, but were part of the public debate. That's a positive thing."
14 years after his last session on the hill, Jones says the question of whether or not sponsoring a bill you know nothing about is good government is up to each voter.
"I'm going to let you and other folks decide what is good government, what is moral or correct."
