Ford Says Opponent "Couldn't Stoop Any Lower"
by Judy Frank
posted October 11, 2006
) Congressman Harold Ford Jr. is interviewed by local SETPAC group on Tuesday. Click to enlarge. |
The debate, the second in a series of three, ended with a bang when Mr. Corker charged that Rep. Ford’s own father had lobbied him on Fannie Mae-related issues, and Rep. Ford countered with a furious denial.
Within 60 days after Rep. Ford became a member of the U.S. House of Representative’s financial services committee which oversees Fannie Mae, his father registered “as a Fannie Mae lobbyist to lobby you,” Mr. Corker charged.
Rep. Ford’s response was instantaneous and angry.
“My opponent – I didn’t think he could stoop any lower, but it doesn’t look like we have hit bottom yet,” the congressman said. “My dad has never lobbied me. He’s never talked to me about Fannie Mae.”
That exchange ended a point-counterpoint kind of evening, during which both candidates frequently gave only cursory answers to the questions posed by students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga – which hosted the debate – and then quickly moved on to rebut charges leveled by their opponent.
Mr. Corker began the exchange regarding Rep. Ford’s father by saying “I didn’t intend to bring this up tonight.”
Within minutes after the debate ended, however, his staffers were distributing detailed press releases on the topic – an irony not lost on Ford staffers, who pointed it out to any reporters who had missed it.
They said Rep. Ford has not shown favoritism to Fannie Mae. On the contrary, one aide noted, the Tennessee congressman supported a bill aimed at reforming Fannie Mae, despite that agency’s strenuous attempts to defeat it.
Rep. Ford was furious about the insinuations regarding his father, who he said “raised me to be a good man.”
“Let’s leave our families out of this,” he told Mr. Corker. “This is between you and me.”
Rep. Ford said Mr. Corker likes to talk about the successes he chalked up as a wealthy businessman and as mayor of Chattanooga, but is far less forthcoming about his problems during those years.
For example, Rep. Ford said, Mr. Corker accepts no blame at all for the fact that one of his subcontractors hired illegal aliens to work on a Corker construction site. Instead, Mr. Corker shifts the blame to the subcontractor.
“How many other worksites did he have illegals working on?” Rep. Ford asked, talking with reporters after the debate ended.
Mr. Corker, noting that the incident involving undocumented workers occurred 18 years ago, said during the debate that he has never hired an illegal alien. In fact, he said, he and his company were praised by federal officials for the way they handled the situation.
“Exactly how did you handle it?” a reporter asked after the debate.
Mr. Corker shrugged. “I don’t remember all the details,” he said. “It happened 18 years ago.”
The bulk of the 60-minute debate featured the candidates outlining their positions on a variety of issues, and taking frequent potshots at each other.
During an exchange concerning the number of votes that Rep. Ford has missed during his decade in Congress, the Congressman said he was “there to vote 93 percent of the time.” That percentage was even higher prior to his decision to seek the seat being vacated by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, he said, saying it has not been easy to balance the demands of his campaign with his responsibilities as a member of the House of Representatives.
But Mr. Corker said the votes Rep. Ford has missed are another indication of the differences between him and his opponent.
“I have a tremendous work ethic,” the former Chattanooga mayor said. “Rep. Ford is a great talker . . . but it really takes hard work to solve this nation’s problems.”
The candidates disagreed on issues ranging from the war in Iraq to whether the minimum wage should be increased.
“Obviously, things are not going well in Iraq,” Mr. Corker said in response to a student’s question. He said he believes that the U.S. should “stay the course” there, and follow the recommendations of naval and military commanders on the ground for adopting more effective tactics.
Rep. Ford, noting that six of those naval and military commanders have called on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to resign, said he believes drastic changes are needed in the way the U.S. is handling the war.
“We’ve stayed the course for three years . . . but we can’t stay there and moderate a civil war,” he said. “What we need is a new course.”
The United States needs to explore the possibility of dividing Iraq into three sectors – Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite – and letting the various factions work out their problems, Rep. Ford said.
Mr. Corker, asked by a student about his position on raising the minimum wage, told the crowd “I’ve actually had minimum wage jobs, unlike my opponent.”
The issue needs review, he said, since the minimum wage hasn’t been adjusted in 10 years.
But Mr. Corker did not indicate whether he favors increasing the minimum wage.
Rather, he said he thinks what the nation really should be focusing on is how to create more jobs that pay good wages, and what can be done to lessen the burden on small businesses.
Rep. Ford, countering Mr. Corker’s assertion that he had never held a minimum wage job, listed a series of such positions that he held as a student.
He has no reservations about taking a position on raising the minimum wage, he said.
“I support it.”
All seats were taken for the 7 p.m. debate at the UTC Student Center.
Officials said media space was also at a premium, with some national outlets in town for coverage.
The debate was carried live on Channel 9. It will be replayed on WGOW Talk Radio on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
The Ford campaign was buoyed by an overflow crowd at an interdenominational prayer breakfast at the Sheraton Read House on Tuesday morning.
The candidate held a press conference afterwards to blast Corker on statements about "staying the course" in Iraq.
He then met with the local SETPAC group to try to win their endorsement. Congressman Ford was headed for a noon speech at the Grundy County Rotary Club prior to returning to Chattanooga.
Meanwhile, Mr. Corker was in tow with Sen. Bill Frist on a two-day swing in Middle and East Tennessee.
Mr. Corker said, “I’ve spent my entire adult life right here in Tennessee solving complex problems, and I’m proud to contrast my record and background with Congressman Ford, who has spent his entire professional career as a Washington politician. As senator, I will strive to solve the many complex problems we face at home and abroad with the same drive, passion and work ethic I’ve demonstrated throughout my life here in Tennessee. And I will seek to represent our state in the fine tradition of Howard Baker, Fred Thompson, Lamar Alexander and Bill Frist – not Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, like my opponent will.”
Corker and Frist said before Ford seeks a promotion to the U.S. Senate, he "begin showing up to his job as a Congressman." They said since 2000, "Ford has skipped at least 365 votes, and during this Congressional term, he has the 5th worst attendance record in the House and the worst of any member running for Congress. In the last two years, 99% of Representatives showed up for work more than Congressman Ford did."
Sen. Frist said, “In Tennessee, people get promoted based on job performance, showing up to work and proving they have the ability to solve problems while getting things done. Over the last 10 years in Washington, Congressman Ford has talked about solving problems, but there’s little to show for it - except his poor attendance record in the House. The fact that Congressman Ford has skipped more votes than 99 percent of his colleagues shows that he has a very different work ethic than Bob Corker.”
On the Iraq issue, Ford Campaign Senior Advisor Michael Powell said, "Bob Corker has the courage of no one's convictions. Instead of taking responsibility for backing a failed approach in Iraq, he has resorted to twisting words beyond their plain meaning. Tennesseans know what 'stay the course' means, and they know that Bob Corker isn't playing straight with them.
"The truth is that Bob Corker has long supported a failed approach and a failed policy. Only now, when even leading Republican national security experts finally have seen what Tennesseans have long known - that 'stay the course' will only lead to more bloodshed and violence - does Bob Corker try to make it look like he's changed his mind.
"This is what happens when a person doesn't have a vision to defend or a plan to pursue. In the face of inconvenient facts and uncomfortable truths, Bob Corker does what he always does - lies about it, forgets it or doesn't talk about it."
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