Tennessee Paper Says Harold Ford Jr. Not Telling the Truth About NY Residency

If it was up to Harold Ford Jr. NY State would be changing its name from the Empire State to the carpet-bagger State. The former Tennessee Congressman is threatening to mount a primary challenge against NY Senator Kristen Kirsten Gillibrand who was named to fill the seat of another carpet-bagger, Hillary Clinton.

Ford, who lost his bid to be Senator from Tennessee in 2006 claims he has been a resident of New York State for the past three years is still registered to vote in Tennessee and voted in Memphis in the 2008 Election when he was supposedly a NY Resident. Ford still lists a condo on South Front Street in Memphis as his home.

The Memphis Commercial-Appeal  investigated Ford's residency and discovered that Ford may not have been totally honest about his residency.

He shows the Downtown address as his primary residency on records with the Shelby County Election Commission. And he last cast a ballot in Shelby County during the November 2008 presidential election.

"He voted at an early-voting site for the November 2008 general election," Shelby County Election Administrator Richard Holden confirmed Tuesday.

Holden said election records indicate that Ford has listed 415 S. Front, Unit 12, as his primary residence since March 2006.

Wait a second ! If a his home in Memphis has been his primary residence since March 2006 how could he have lived in New York since 2007?

Shelby County Property Assessor's records show that Ford owns the Downtown apartment. The one-bedroom, 11/2 -bath unit he purchased in July 2005 is appraised at $168,700.

Earlier this week Ford announced in the pages of The New York Post that he is "strongly considering" a run for the U.S. Senate in New York. Well he better become a resident of NY pretty soon. Before another mis-truth comes out.

In his Post column, the five-term congressman said he is in favor of same-sex marriage "after listening to and participating in the national conversation about full equality and fairness." When he ran for the Senate in 2006 in Tennessee, he supported a constitutional amendment outlawing the practice.

OOPS Too Late

Ford, a regular commentator on television who works for Merrill Lynch and teaches a course at New York University, said he has lived in New York for three years and is registered to vote in the city.

"The allegation in the Times is he had registered in New York," Holden said. When someone registers in another state, Holden explained, "it should be in the process of canceling the Tennessee registration. Once he registers up there, it will go to Albany probably, and then to Nashville before it gets to us. It is not instantaneous."

Regarding Ford and a possible Senate run in New York, Giannini, a Republican, said, "The bottom line is people don't care (about residency). They'll call him a carpetbagger, but ultimately residency hasn't turned out to be a big issue. It didn't for Hillary Clinton. I think it probably should be. We are in a representative government, but that's for the voters of New York to decide."

No if he is not a NY Resident the law says he can't run. As a Senator he should want to obey the law. And he should want to tell the truth. Harold Ford Jr. should remember that.