Undeclared US Senate candidate Harold Ford, of Tenn., says he’ll file 1st NY state tax return

Tenn.’s Ford says he’ll file his 1st NY tax return

NEW YORK — Former Tennessee congressman and undeclared U.S. Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. says he’ll file his first state tax return as a New Yorker this April.

Ford is considering running in the Democratic primary for the Senate seat held by Kirsten Gillibrand (KEHR’-sten JIL’-uh-brand), who replaced Hillary Rodham Clinton. He has faced questions about whether he could effectively represent the state as a relatively recent transplant.

Ford moved to New York shortly after losing the 2006 U.S. Senate race in Tennessee to take a job with brokerage firm Merrill Lynch but remained a Tennessee resident. He tells cable television station NY1 he’ll file a 2009 New York tax return.

Ford spokesman Davidson Goldin tells the Daily News in Saturday editions Ford previously paid New York taxes and filed the appropriate forms for income earned in the state.