Tamara Mitchell Ford - It's All John's Fault

Mitchell-Ford blames ex for alcohol woes
'I never had a drinking problem until I tried to leave John Ford'

By Marc Perrusquia (edited by Memphis Steve)
February 15, 2005

She patted her unborn baby, the child of her ex-husband, state Sen. John Ford, like money in the bank.

Then Tamara Mitchell-Ford tried to explain it all: her relationship with Ford, his recent troubles and her own 'struggles' with alcohol.

"I never had a drinking 'problem' until I tried to leave John Ford," she claimed in an interview Tuesday at her East Memphis home.

As John Ford battles ethics complaints in Nashville, including allegations he failed to disclose $237,000 received from a TennCare subcontractor, his ex-wife says she knows of other TennCare deals.

One, she says, paid her consulting fees for legal work she did in 1995 for the marketing arm of Access MedPlus, a now-defunct TennCare managed care organization.

Apparently Tamara has benefitted from John's activities as well.

But Mitchell-Ford was more interested in talking about her divorce.

In an unusual 2002 divorce decree approved by the now-deceased Chancellor Floyd Peete, the couple's property was not divided. Custody of their three children wasn't established and no child support payments were ordered -- all to the benefit of her powerful ex-husband, Tamara Mitchell-Ford claims.

"It was a political favor (from Peete) to him,'' she alleges.

"That's a damn lie,'' responded Ford's divorce attorney, David Caywood. A gentleman lawyer not normally given to such outbursts, Caywood said he was perturbed because Mitchell-Ford consented to the deal and even personally thanked him later.

Prominent Nashville divorce attorney Rose Palermo, asked to review the Ford divorce decree for The Commercial Appeal, agreed it was unusual but said it does appear consensual.

"I have no respect for Senator Ford," Palermo said, "but I don't think we can really blame (Ford or Peete) for this. It appears all the judge did was rubber stamp what the parties told him.''

So goes life for poor Tamara Mitchell-Ford, now 40. She was a 26-year-old law student when she married the Memphis Democrat in 1991, and her life has been a stream of 'confusing emotions' and outrageous behavior ever since.

She readily admits she doesn't have a full measure of credibility in many circles. A series of 'auto wrecks and spats,' -- including a 2001 incident when she steered her Jaguar into a rival woman's home -- took care of that. She spent three months in jail last year for traffic offenses and a probation violation.

But for most of her wrecks, brawls, and scandals she has never been held accountable. Some say she has grown much too accustomed to the privileged life.

She claims she's no longer drinking and looks forward to giving birth in April, when she'll open another chapter in her on-again, off-again life with Ford, 62.

Mitchell-Ford, patting her tummy, said, "This child. Is it legitimate or is it illegitimate? I don't know.''

If she doesn't know then who does?

That confusion spilled into headlines and onto TV news programs in January after Ford testified he keeps homes with his ex-wife and his longtime girlfriend, Connie Mathews, though neither is in his Senate district.

Ford gave his testimony while contesting a request for increased child support by a third woman, Dana M. Smith, with whom he has a 10-year-old girl.

Ford 'battled' Smith's petition with a law he sponsored in the General Assembly, and when his $356,000-a-year income became a motivating factor in the case, it led to disclosures that now have him in a spot with the Senate Ethics Committee.

From there, the plot only thickens.

Records indicate Ford had two children with Mathews in 1987 and 1992, and had three with Mitchell-Ford between 1991 and 1994. He and Smith also had a child in 1994.

Despite the couple's 2002 divorce, Mitchell-Ford is again pregnant, the result, she says, of a 'reconciliation' with Ford.

Her due date is April 20.

Withdrawal from alcohol, and coercion, she claims, 'led' her to enter a divorce settlement she didn't want. Her divorce decree required that she seek treatment for alcohol abuse. She said she went along with everything out of fear of losing her children.

Does this mean she never really wanted to be free from alcohol addiction? That she never truly regretted her outrageous behavior?

With no custody or support order and no assurances of a reunification, she is unsure of her future. She said she hopes to hire a lawyer to possibly reopen her divorce case, set aside the decree and 'renegotiate.'

"What do I do? Go (back) to Circuit Court for the three that I had during marriage and then take (Ford) before the Juvenile Court (to resolve support for her unborn child)? It's a very unsettling reality.''

The law Ford passed in the General Assembly is further 'aggravation,' she said. Because it requires judges to consider all the children financially supported by a noncustodial parent -- both those under child support orders and those not -- it can provide relief from paying higher court-ordered support amounts.

It also treats all children equally, leaving none to do without simply because their father is currently married to their mother. Tamara seems to feel this is specifically unfair to her.

Mitchell-Ford said her former husband has found another way to benefit himself. He gets credit for supporting her three children, and that credit includes paying a mortgage of a house he owns, 'building his equity.'

Again, Tamara seems to feel that this is somehow unfair to her.

"John Ford doesn't want to be held responsible for child support for any children, whether they're born in wedlock or whether they're born not in wedlock," she said.

Ford has repeatedly declined to discuss his controversies, and he did not respond to messages Tuesday.

Mitchell-Ford said she has little insight into Ford's 'soaring' income and any possible TennCare consulting. She acknowledged she received pay for legal work in 1995 from White, Richards & Associates, a Nashville firm that contracted with Access MedPlus, but said that came after an attorney general's opinion approved the deal.

"It was all legal,'' she claims.

What she didn't say, though, was that it was ethical.

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