Tennessee ? Two city councilmen, including the uncle of U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., were charged Thursday with taking thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for their votes to allow new billboards in the city.

Memphis council members Edmund Ford and Rickey Peete face federal charges that they took nearly $7,000 and $12,000, respectively, from an informant.

Edmund Ford comes from a prominent political family in Memphis: His brother is former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Sr., the first black congressman in Tennessee, and his nephew is Ford Jr., the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in November.

The informant paid the council members between Aug. 30 and Oct. 27 in exchange for their votes on a real estate proposal and the repeal of a moratorium on putting up billboards in the city, the FBI said.