Joe Ford Cleared in Ethics Investigation

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A report released Thursday says the County Attorney Brain L. Kuhn found no wrong doing in Joe Ford's Mayoral campaign.

An anonymous complaint was filed in the beginning of June alleging county employees were working on interim County Mayor Joe Ford's campaign during business hours.

"It is my overall conclusion that there is little or no proof that these employees were hired, told, or paid to perform any campaign activities," stated Kuhn in his official release.

The investigation involved three county employees accused of using County equipment and working on the campaign during County hours. After reviewing the email records on the County computers, Kuhn interviewed each employee under oath with a court reporter including a fourth person named in the complaint.

Each person said they volunteered their time after hours to work on the Ford campaign and stated the campaign had a campaign manager with a campaign headquarters. Each stated they were not hired for those purposes and denied using county time to work on the campaign.

There were a few occasions where some of these individuals received e-mails pertaining to the campaign but Kuhn states since they received two to three thousand emails and there were less than ten related to the matter, he did not deem it a "diminous use of County property."

Part of the inquiry involved Facebook campaign activities but was found to be non-conclusive.

There are various laws which prohibit a County employee from using equipment for political purposes or working on political campaigns during County time.

The complaint was sent to the County Ethics Officer Danny Presley who then forwarded the complaint to the County Attorney. It was a one typewritten page that contained no date or no signature.