James Anthony Traficant, Jr. (born May 8, 1941) is a former Democratic politician and member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio. He represented the 17th Congressional District, which centered on his hometown of Youngstown and included parts of three counties in northeast Ohio's Mahoning Valley. He was expelled after being convicted of taking bribes, filing false tax returns, racketeering, and forcing his aides to perform chores at his farm in Ohio and houseboat in Washington, D.C.. He was sentenced to prison and released on September 2, 2009, after serving a seven-year sentence.
EARLY LIFE, EDUCATION, AND CAREER
Born into a working-class, Catholic family in Youngstown, Ohio, Traficant is the son of Agnes (née Farkas) and James Anthony Traficant Sr,. He is of mostly Italian and Slovak ancestry. Traficant graduated from Cardinal Mooney High School in 1959 and the University of Pittsburgh in 1963; he was drafted into the NFL in the twentieth round (276th overall) by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1963, and obtained a master's degree from the University of Pittsburgh and another from Youngstown State University.
He was the executive director of the Mahoning County Drug Program from 1971 to 1981, and Sheriff of Mahoning County from 1981 to 1985. While serving as Sheriff, Traficant made national headlines by refusing to execute foreclosure orders on several unemployed homeowners, many of whom had been left unemployed by the recent closures of steel mills. He openly defied a court order and spent three days in jail to protest the proceedings and draw attention to the plight of unemployed homeowners. This endeared him to the local population, which had long derived its wealth from steel and steel-associated businesses. In 1983, he was charged with racketeering for accepting bribes.
Traficant, who represented himself in the criminal trial, argued that he accepted the bribes only as part of an undercover investigation into corruption. Traficant was acquitted of the charges, becoming the only person ever to win a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) case while
representing himself.
He was elected as a Democrat to Congress from Ohio's 17th District, defeating Lyle Williams, a three-term Republican incumbent. Despite being outspent seven to one by an incumbent Republican, Mr. Traficant won handily by 18,000 votes. He has been re-elected seven times, in each instance garnering at least 68 percent of the vote. In 1992 he received more than 216,000 votes – the third highest total of any House member. He was reelected eight times without serious opposition.
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
In the House, Traficant was known for his flamboyant and eccentric style. He often dressed poorly, with narrow neckties (then out of style), wide-lapelled sportcoats, and an occasional denim suit. He also sported an unkempt pompadour, which he jokingly claimed he cut with a weed whacker (it was revealed, after his conviction, that he wore a toupée). His trademark closing lines while addressing the House were "Beam me up... I yield back the fact..."
His website featured a picture of him swinging a two-by-four with the words "Bangin' away in D.C." After the Republicans took control of the House in 1995, Traficant tended to vote more often with the Republicans than with his own party. On the issue of abortion, Traficant voted in the position of the National Right to Life Committee 95% of the time in the 105th Congress, and 100% of the time in the 106th and 107th Congresses. However, he voted against all four articles of impeachment against Bill Clinton. After he voted for Republican Dennis Hastert for Speaker of the House in 2001, the Democrats stripped him of his seniority and refused to give him any committee assignments.
Because the Republicans did not assign him to any committees either, Traficant became the first member of the House of Representatives in over a century—outside the top leadership—without any committee assignment.
DEFENDING JOHN DEMJANJUK
Traficant championed the unpopular cause of John Demjanjuk, a Ukrainian-born autoworker from Seven Hills, who had been convicted in Israel and sentenced to hang for having been the brutal concentration camp guard Ivan the Terrible For almost a decade, Traficant (along with Pat Buchanan) insisted that Demjanjuk had been denied a fair trial, and been the victim of mistaken identity; in 1993 the Supreme Court of Israel overturned the conviction, on the basis of doubt. Demjanjuk was later deported to Germany on May 11, 2009, after the United States Supreme Court refused to overturn his deportation order.
Demjanjuk was tried and convicted by a German criminal court of being an accessory to murder, but died before the German Appellate Court could hear his case, thereby voiding the conviction.
While in Congress, Traficant was a supporter of immigration reduction, and a strong opponent of illegal immigration. In the controversy surrounding the defeat of Congressman Bob Dornan (R-CA) by Democrat Loretta Sanchez, Traficant was the only Democratic member of Congress who advocated a new election, due to possible voting in that race by illegal immigrants. Sanchez would later introduce a resolution expelling Traficant from the House.
Traficant's major legislative accomplishment in the House was the adoption of some of his proposals to constrain enforcement activities by the Internal Revenue Service against delinquent taxpayers.
TRIAL AND EXPULSTION
In 2002, Traficant was indicted on federal corruption charges for taking campaign funds for personal use. Again, he opted to represent himself, insisting that the trial was part of a vendetta against him dating to his 1983 trial. After a two-month federal trial, on April 15, 2002, he was convicted of 10 felony counts including bribery, racketeering, and tax evasion. He was sentenced to a federal prison, where he served seven years. Per House rules, he lost his right to vote on legislation pending an investigation by the House Ethics Committee. a jury found Traficant guilty of bribery and other charges.
Eventually, the House Ethics Committee recommended that Traficant be expelled from Congress. On July 24 the House voted to expel him by a 420-1 vote. The sole vote against expulsion was Rep. Gary Condit, who at the time was in the midst of a scandal of his own and had been defeated in his reelection primary. Traficant was the first representative to be expelled since Michael Myers's expulsion in 1980 as a result of the Abscam scandal.
After his expulsion, Traficant ran as an independent candidate for another term in the House while incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institute, Allenwood. He received 28,045 votes, or 15 percent, and became one of only a handful of individuals in the history of the United States to run for a federal office from prison. The election was won by one of his former aides, Tim Ryan.
Traficant was released from prison on September 2, 2009. On September 6, 2009, 1200 supporters welcomed him home at a banquet with an Elvis Presley impersonator, and a Traficant lookalike contest. "Welcome home Jimbo" was printed on T-shirts. "I think it's time to tell the FBI and the IRS that this is our country and we're tired -- tired of the pressure, tired of the political targeting, tired of a powerful central government that is crippling America," he said. Traficant signed a limited, three-month contract to work as a part-time weekend talk radio host for Cleveland news/talk station WTAM in January 2010. His contract permitted him to quit if he chose to run for office.
In November 2, 2009, a column by Traficant was published by American Free Press. He endorsed the views of paper and continued to defend the accused concentration camp guard John Demjanjuk. Michael Collins Piper an AFP writer— who authored Target: Traficant, The Untold Story — previously defended Traficant against his accusers.
2010 RUN FOR CONGRESS
In September 2010, Traficant was certified to run for the same seat he held before his expulsion, and said that his platform would be to repeal the 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Traficant lost the election to his former aide Tim Ryan, to whom he lost an earlier race in 2002, in which Traficant ran as an independent from his prison cell. Traficant received 30,556 votes, or 16%.
In past years, Mr. Traficant has been profiled by the Washington Post, 60 Minutes, Fox Network Television and CNN in his years of serving his government. He has appeared on a number of national talk and news shows, including The Donahue Show, NBC’s Meet the Press, CNN’s Crossfire, CNBC’s Equal Time and Pozner/Donahue, Cop Talk, Good Morning America, The Today Show, CBS Morning News, the Jack Anderson Show, NETV’s Paul Weyrich Show, America’s Most Wanted, Unsolved Mysteries and Japanese television.
