Witnesses: John Ford's firm paid $1.2 million

Eds: APNewsNow. May be UPDATED. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Current and former executives of Doral Dental Services have testified their company paid former state Sen. John Ford's consulting firm about $1.2 million. They told the court Tuesday Ford's Managed Care Services Group got monthly payments totaling about $1.2 million from October 2002 to February 2005 when the contract was terminated. Ford's defense has been that while he did do paid consulting work for Doral, it was largely outside the state and therefore not illegal nor improper. Doral won a TennCare contract in 2002 to provide dental services to more than 900,000 low-income children. Ford, a Memphis Democrat, is accused of accepting more than $800,000 from TennCare contractors Doral Dental of Mequon, Wis., and Omnicare of Memphis while promoting their interests as a... [read full story]