REP. FORD WANTS U.S. TO REPAY LEGAL COSTS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 14, 1993                   TAG: 9304140144
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short
REP. FORD WANTS U.S. TO REPAY LEGAL COSTS
Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., acquitted last week of fraud and conspiracy charges after a decade-long legal ordeal, said Tuesday he will ask Congress to repay his $4.5 million in legal costs.
House officials could not recall an instance in which the government had reimbursed a lawmaker for costs of a failed criminal prosecution. Usually, members of the public who are unsuccessfully prosecuted by the government are not entitled to repayment of their legal costs.
Ford, 47, was acquitted Friday of criminal charges that he had accepted payoffs from a pair of political allies, convicted former Tennessee bankers Jake and C.H. Butcher Jr.
The lawmaker had over the years accused Republican prosecutors of pursuing him because he is black and a Democrat. - Associated Press

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB