Ford's hard work

Well, the fax of the draft version of the legislature finally made it through and McNeil promised to take a look at it (exhibit 77). The date is September 7, 2004 and it's four pages long and from the stamp on the bottom, we see it's from Senator John Ford's office.

According to McNeil, everything on the draft was completed exactly as they had discussed on the day Ford received the $10K in McNeil's office.

Ford and McNeil then met on September 17 to discuss the document in McNeil's E-Cycle office. This, like most meetings in McNeil's office, was captured on video (exhibit 17).

"I'm going to roll this thing section by section and you can make notes," says Ford.

According to McNeil, this document is just the beginning. He says Tim Willis started this with project Senator Dixon, but Ford's document is a thousand times better.

Ford explains why his is so much better.

"In order to win, you gotta have something beneficial," says Ford. "Beneficial to the state. Beneficial to everyone."

McNeil says everyone reviewed it, even their legal guys.

"It's perfect," says McNeil.

But McNeil does have one concern, and it has to do with the education clause. Ford says it doesn't limit it to just education, but will take a look at it. McNeil says he doesn't want the schools getting preference over them. He wants E-Cycle to have preferential treatment. Ford agrees.

"We need to amend it to include other agencies?" ask Ford. "To amend it, to take it out."

Ford then reads a little more and asks, "What do you all want 'em to do?"

"I don't want them to be donated," says McNeil. McNeil says E-Cycle wants to pay for the surplus equipment. They don't want them for free because they want the best surplus equipment out there.

Ford continues to go through the document line by line, talking about rules and regulations and other legislative details. McNeil doesn't have any other concerns.

"That's solid, John," says McNeil.

Once they're done, McNeil gets the payment out of the way.

"Do you have any expenses?" asks McNeil.

"No...and if I did, I wouldn't charge you," says Ford.

McNeil then pays John another $5K. According to McNeil, this payment was to cover the changes Ford was going to make to the document.