I yield my time to the gentleman, er i mean scumbag from Memphis. What an ass clown.

Former manager Scott Bascue of Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls said he never saw money changing hands, but witnessed Ford - a 31-year Senate veteran who sits on three key committees - ask for $50,000 to begin the relationship.

"He said ... just his time that day was worth about $50,000," Bascue said. "He was really arrogant."

Bascue, who quit Johnson Controls two years ago, said Ford used his charm and pressure to attempt to "leverage" contracts in the private sector and with state government, including one with Erlanger Medical Center, a nonprofit, academic teaching center in Chattanooga that's affiliated with the University of Tennessee.

Bascue said bosses at Johnson Controls told him to court Ford and he often spent up to $600 taking the Memphis Democrat out.

"(Ford) was an expensive guy," Bascue told The Commercial Appeal. "If you just had dinner with him, you were lucky if you got out of there for less than 600 bucks."

Bascue said he questioned the decision to hire Ford three years ago but was told to keep quiet.