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Current Events => Breaking News => Topic started by: DefiantSix on September 27, 2014, 03:24:11 PM

Title: James A. Traficant Jr., colorful Ohio congressman expelled by House, dies at 73
Post by: DefiantSix on September 27, 2014, 03:24:11 PM
Quote
James A. Traficant Jr., colorful Ohio congressman expelled by House, dies at 73 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/james-a-traficant-jr-colorful-ohio-congressman-expelled-by-house-dies-at-73/2014/09/27/fa98868a-4431-11e4-9a15-137aa0153527_story.html)

By Matt Schudel | September 27 at 1:56 PM

James A. Traficant Jr., an iconoclastic nine-term Ohio populist in the U.S. House of Representatives who was convicted on corruption charges in 2002, becoming the second member of Congress to be expelled since the Civil War, died Sept. 27 at a hospital in Youngstown, Ohio. He was 73.

A family spokeswoman, Heidi Hanni, confirmed his death to reporters. The former congressman was injured in a tractor accident on his farm near Greenford, Ohio, on Tuesday. A former aide told reporters in Ohio that he apparently had a heart attack while driving the tractor, which overturned inside a building and left the former congressman trapped underneath.

Mr. Traficant, a maverick Democrat who found his own path in politics and seemingly in everything else, was one of the most deliberately outrageous members of Congress in history. Glib and voluble, he was known for wearing cowboy boots, skinny ties and out-of-date polyester suits and for a bouffant mound of hair that seemed to defy gravity.

<snip>

I was kinda fond of this guy - until he got caught taking bribes. Not too bad as conservative democrats went, though...
Title: Re: James A. Traficant Jr., colorful Ohio congressman expelled by House, dies at 73
Post by: Eupher on September 27, 2014, 05:19:15 PM
I'd never heard of him till the drama of his being expelled from The Cesspool Known As D.C. Rest in peace, Jim. You don't need to worry about your hair-do any more.
Title: Re: James A. Traficant Jr., colorful Ohio congressman expelled by House, dies at 73
Post by: FlaGator on September 27, 2014, 05:22:36 PM
Didn't he want to maintain his office while in prison?
Title: Re: James A. Traficant Jr., colorful Ohio congressman expelled by House, dies at 73
Post by: BlueStateSaint on September 27, 2014, 05:58:52 PM
It wouldn't surprise me, FG.

RIP, Mr. Traficant.  You were definitely a character.
Title: Re: James A. Traficant Jr., colorful Ohio congressman expelled by House, dies at 73
Post by: DefiantSix on September 27, 2014, 09:23:38 PM
Quote from: Eupher on September 27, 2014, 05:19:15 PM
I'd never heard of him till the drama of his being expelled from The Cesspool Known As D.C. Rest in peace, Jim. You don't need to worry about your hair-do any more.

Rush used to play clips of him all the time; he was the one who used to close his floor speeches off with "Beam me up Mr. Speaker"...

With the points he brought to the table, I had to ask myself often, "This guy's a Dhimmi'Rat?"
Title: Traficant dies, liberal reporter writes an apology eulogy
Post by: I_B_Perky on September 28, 2014, 12:34:08 AM
The headline:

Jim Traficant Was Our Kind of Crook

The link:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/09/jim-traficant-was-our-kind-of-crook-111376_Page2.html (http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/09/jim-traficant-was-our-kind-of-crook-111376_Page2.html)

Excerpt:

Quote
While I was a newspaper reporter in suburban Pittsburgh, I met John Murtha, then the dean of the state’s Congressional delegation. Because he’s a politician, he steered the conversation toward me, asking where I was from. I told him Youngstown. “Traficant,” he said. “He’s a whore.” He then proceeded to tell me about Traficant’s entreaties to join the House Ways and Means Committee, which were blocked by the chairman, Dan Rostenkowski.

Murtha was an unindicted co-conspirator in Abscam. Rostenkowski, like Traficant, ended up doing federal time. Jimbo was a crook, but he wasn’t their kind of a crook.

He was our kind of crook – and that’s something nobody outside of the Mahoning Valley really understood.

I guess it is OK as long as the corrupt politician is "Our kind of crook".   :banghead:
Title: Re: James A. Traficant Jr., colorful Ohio congressman expelled by House, dies at 73
Post by: Chris_ on September 28, 2014, 12:37:48 AM
Quote from: FlaGator on September 27, 2014, 05:22:36 PM
Didn't he want to maintain his office while in prison?
I remember he tried to run for re-election. That was the last time I heard of him.
Title: Re: James A. Traficant Jr., colorful Ohio congressman expelled by House, dies at 73
Post by: obumazombie on September 28, 2014, 02:53:29 AM
More lib/dem/socialists should follow in his footsteps. The sooner the better.
Title: Re: James A. Traficant Jr., colorful Ohio congressman expelled by House, dies at 73
Post by: cavegal on September 28, 2014, 12:41:00 PM
I remember him. Rush used to play his final speech in congress and in the background you could hear someone giving off a list of the things he was bribed with.  I kinda liked him.
Title: Re: James A. Traficant Jr., colorful Ohio congressman expelled by House, dies at 73
Post by: Ralph Wiggum on September 28, 2014, 03:28:34 PM
Quote from: cavegal on September 28, 2014, 12:41:00 PM
I remember him. Rush used to play his final speech in congress and in the background you could hear someone giving off a list of the things he was bribed with.  I kinda liked him.

Yeah, Rush used to play clips of Trafficant often in the early-mid 90's.  IIRC, his views were all over the place, very liberal in some and downright Goldwater-like in others.  May he rest in peace.
Title: Re: James A. Traficant Jr., colorful Ohio congressman expelled by House, dies at 73
Post by: Ptarmigan on September 28, 2014, 04:02:11 PM
I thought it was really unfair that James Trafficant was kicked out when other politicians have done much worse. :wtf2: Yes, I know he was not a Democrat insider. He did take quite conservative stances from what I have heard and read. I remember an anti-illegal immigration group gave him the highest grade for a Democrat.

RIP James Anthony Traficant, Jr. Condolences to his family and relatives.