Another Blow to Traficant

Roll Call ^ | June 27, 2002 | Damon Chappie

[xsysmgr]

On the same day he lost a bid for a new trial and a former top aide admitted to a kickback scheme, convicted Rep. James Traficant learned that his arch-nemesis may be in line for a big promotion from the Bush administration.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Morford - the 43-year-old prosecutor who led one of the most successful attacks on corruption in Justice Department history and became Traficant's personal target for vilification - was one of three lawyers recommended by Ohio's two GOP Senators to become the next U.S. attorney for Northern Ohio.

The transmittal of three names, rather than the customary one, was described as highly unusual by legal and Senate sources and appeared to reveal a new push by the Bush administration to break the traditions of Senate prerogatives that have customarily been followed in selecting sensitive appointees.

Sens. Mike DeWine and George Voinovich sent Morford and two other potential nominees' names to the White House as part of the Bush administration's new demand that Senators submit three names - rather than one- to the White House for U.S. attorney nominees, according to one GOP Senator.

Usually, when a state's senior Senator and the president are of the same party, the lawmaker - in this case DeWine - would send up only a single name for the White House to consider as a formal nominee for the prosecutorial post. DeWine - a senior Judiciary Committee member- has allowed Voinovich - who has a deeper understanding of the region from his days as Cleveland's mayor- to make joint recommendations on presidential appointments.

Last year, the pair recommended another lawyer - David Joyce - for the top prosecutorial spot. But Joyce withdrew from the process after an FBI background check turned up information that troubled the White House, individuals familiar with the matter said.

With the recently imposed demand from the Bush administration for three names, DeWine and Voinovich acquiesced without a fight.

The decision to ask for three names has rankled some tradition-bound Senators, who see the patronage of judicial nominations and U.S. attorney selections as one of the most important legacies they can leave. "Some Senators have pushed back, and the White House has acquiesced in some cases," the GOP Senator said, insisting on anonymity.

But legal sources in Ohio also suggested the move may have been designed to provide in-state political cover if Morford emerges as the actual nominee over a more politically connected Cleveland-area county prosecutor who was also named.

Morford's name had been widely circulated before as a potential candidate, as had the other two attorneys recommended Tuesday - former federal prosecutor Roger Synenenberg and Lorain County prosecutor Greg White.

Legal sources in Ohio portrayed the situation as a struggle between the politically well-connected White - who ran a close 1994 race against Rep. Sherrod Brown (D) - and the less politically tied but well-respected Morford, with Synenenberg viewed as a potential compromise candidate.

"White's got the political juice. He's the most wired politically," said one Ohio attorney who spoke on background. "But I think there's a lot of people in the bar who are hoping that Morford gets it because he certainly is a lawyer's lawyer."

Morford received an almost daily beration from Traficant during the 10-week trial that resulted in the lawmaker's conviction on 10 felony counts in a case that crowned a decade-long effort by a small band of federal prosecutors and FBI agents - led by Morford- to purge Youngstown, Ohio, of a culture of corruption that infected every level of government, from municipal officials, sheriffs, local prosecutors and judges to ultimately the office of the Congressman, who dominated the local political arena for more than two decades.

While the national media virtually ignored Youngstown's endemic corruption, concentrating instead on Traficant's clownish and often lurid one-minute House floor speeches, prosecutors quietly built a case showing that the seemingly unbeatable lawmaker used his office as a racketeering enterprise for 18 years while cavorting with a network of disreputable and criminal figures that included an admitted Mafia associate who served as his top Congressional aide.

Morford tangled with Traficant before joining the Justice Department as a young IRS attorney, assisting in the 1986 case that forced Traficant to pay more than $100,000 in back taxes and penalties that resulted from the $163,000 in bribes he had taken from various mobsters while sheriff of Youngstown.

On Tuesday, another of Traficant's former top and best-paid aides reversed course and entered a guilty plea to a single perjury charge, admitting that he had in fact slipped Traficant cash-stuffed envelopes after cashing his Congressional paycheck for years.

Henry DiBlasio, an attorney who served as Traficant's top aide and administrative assistant in the district office for 14 years, admitted that he lied before a grand jury investigating Traficant when he denied the kickback scheme under questioning by prosecutors. He previously had pleaded not guilty to the charge.

When DiBlasio retired in 1998, the kickback scheme was passed on to his successor in Traficant's office, Allen Sinclair, who became one of the key witnesses against Traficant at his criminal trial. During the trial, DiBlasio invoked his Fifth Amendment rights in refusing to testify but had willingly supplied Traficant with a letter that claimed he had been intimidated by FBI and IRS agents.

DiBlasio's attorney, James Kersey, refused to comment when asked why the 72-year-old Florida retiree had decided to plead guilty. DiBlasio will be sentenced in late September and faces probation or home confinement.

Traficant, meanwhile, lost a long-shot bid for a new trial when U.S. District Judge Lesley Wells issued a lengthy order that methodically rebutted all of Traficant's claims of being denied a fair trial.

Traficant - assisted by two Columbus, Ohio, lawyers - contended that the jury selection process was tainted because it excluded potential jurors from his base of political strength in Youngstown. He also claimed that his rights were violated when Wells asked him before the jury whether he intended to take the stand as a witness in his own defense.

The denial of a new trial further reduces Traficant's already-dwindling options. He is scheduled to be sentenced by Wells on July 30 and faces likely expulsion from the House next month when the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct concludes its review of the case. He has vowed to appeal his conviction and would have 10 days to do so after his sentencing hearing.

In a last-ditch act of desperation, Traficant late Wednesday filed three motions demanding the dismissal of his grand jury indictment, arguing in highly refined academic language that the grand jury system in the United States is unconstitutional. In one hail-Mary motion, Traficant argued that the grand jury system has been illegal since June 20, 1906, and that more than 160,000 federal prisoners should be released and millions of convictions overturned.

Paul Kane contributed to this report.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Poor Jimmy is his own worst enemy.

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[Catspaw]

In one hail-Mary motion, Traficant argued that the grand jury system has been illegal since June 20, 1906, and that more than 160,000 federal prisoners should be released and millions of convictions overturned

Oh, yeah, this one's going to fly with the judge, uh huh.

Stick a fork in him....