I’m not really interested in saying or doing anything to help rehabilitate the image of John Ford, who was (finally) sentenced this week for accepting bribes as part of the Tennessee Waltz sting.

But I’ll say this for Ford: He did get Marc Perrusquia to dress nicely, if only for a day.

As regular readers of The Commercial Appeal know, Perrusquia is an investigative reporter who has been documenting Ford’s transgressions for years - even back when people thought Tennessee Waltz was just the name of an old song.

Apparently, in a conversation with his wife several years ago, Perrusquia predicted that he’d one day be watching from the front row when Ford was sentenced to prison time. In honor of that occasion, Perrusquia vowed that he would be nicely attired.

So his wife bought him a Versace tie, just in case. Perrusquia said the tie stayed in the box, until this week’s sentencing hearing.

Perrusquia wore it then "out of respect for Sen. Ford’s fashion sense." It was, he added, "the first time I’d worn a tie in about three years."

I can believe that. I just can’t picture Perrusquia wearing a tie, except maybe one with a University of Wisconsin Badger on it. Maybe in that very limited respect, Ford was a role model.