Posted on 08/06/2002 5:17:00 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
James A. Traficant Jr. has left the building.
U.S. marshals picked up the feisty former congressman at 8:47 a.m. Monday at the Summit County Jail and headed east to the low-security Allenwood Federal Correctional Institution in White Deer Township, Pa.
He arrived at his new home at 2:45 p.m., according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Traficant was wearing his famous mop top -- discovered to be a toupee during his jail stay -- when he departed. He had to remove it upon arrival at the federal facility, where hairpieces aren't permitted.
Traficant had been held in Summit since last week, when he was sentenced to eight years in prison for his April conviction on charges of racketeering, bribery and tax evasion.
During his short stay in Akron, he became the jail's resident celebrity -- with calls coming in about his infamous mane and demeanor, as well as multiple requests for interviews, which he did not grant.
His persona in an isolation cell -- where he was kept for his protection -- was no different than the one he displayed on television since taking over the U.S. House of Representatives seat for the Mahoning Valley in 1984, Summit County Sheriff's Department Maj. Charles Poncgracz said.
``He was in pretty good spirits for someone looking at eight years,'' Poncgracz said. ``He's a fighter, I think. He just doesn't have any use for the FBI.''
In the federal prison, Traficant, 61, will be mixed in with the general population at the all-male facility, which is roughly 200 miles east of Youngstown, just off Interstate 80 in central Pennsylvania.
The prison's location -- in a township of about 4,000 people -- is bound to be disappointing to Traficant. He sought to be placed within Ohio to help his campaign to reclaim the 17th District seat as an independent.
Political observers are wary of saying that Traficant has no chance of winning Nov. 5 -- even from behind bars in another state.
There is no precedent regarding a House run from prison.
Constitutional experts say he could serve from another state. Federal courts have ruled that a person's residency is not determined by ``physical or legal compulsion'' -- such as a prison sentence.
Where Traficant may play a bigger role, though, is as king maker. The thought is that he takes more votes from state Sen. Timothy J. Ryan, D-Niles. The better Traficant does, the better it is for state Rep. Ann Womer Benjamin, R-Aurora.
The only polling since the May primary (before the expulsion) put Traficant's support at 13 percent.
John Green, director of the Bliss Institute for Applied Politics at the University of Akron, said Traficant has never been more popular than after his expulsion and sentencing.
Youngstown State University Political Science Department Chairman William Binning said Traficant winning 10 to 15 percent of the vote is realistic.
Meanwhile, in the small communities surrounding White Deer, there was little fanfare regarding the prison's newest resident.
Ed Rolko, owner of Mr. Edward's, a barbershop, beauty shop and wig supplier in nearby Shenandoah, needed some reminders before he could place Traficant's name.
He brushed off the questions with a simple -- ``to me, all those politicians are crooks'' -- and shifted the conversation to his pressing concern: his failing garden.
Rolko, however, joked that he might ask around to find out about Traficant's toupee since he cuts the hair of some prison employees.
``Maybe I could sell him a new one?'' he said, laughing. ``When he comes out, I might be able to take care of him.''
Traficant has always also had a good fiscal conservative voting record on tax cuts and reduced government spending issues. Many Republicans have voted for him in the past because of these issues alone. And his dislike of Gepfart is well known, he should because Gepfart tried to bust him in the 2000 primary but failed miserably.
I note from your post that you seem unable to understand subtle insinuation. Let me get you the Cliff Notes on this:
Make no mistake, the Republicans wanted him out of office, every last one of them. Just exactly as the final vote showed.
Well OF COURSE they did. And it was a done deal before they even had the hearing, everybody in the room including Trafficant knew that. I have every confidence that many of the Republicans were more interested in letting a Democrat squirm on the hook in public than in being altruistic towards Trafficant.
The Democraps just wanted him dead, buried and forgotten before the elections, because he was such an embarrassment to them. Maybe you didn't see both votes, or maybe you just didn't catch the subtle nuance in the Democrats' haste to get him shuffled off to the Gulag and out of sight.
Personally, I always find great amusement in watching the Democrats eat their own children like this. I just wish they had shown Clinton the same sort of treatment.
I think you misunderstood me. I wasn't railing against Trafficant, just admitting that I haven't paid much attention to his case and had nothing more than the verdict to go by. You obviously think he was railroaded, and you may very well be right.
I actually have no particular ax to grind regarding Trafficant, and the fact is I admired many of the positions he took, as in the case of the IRS, as you mentioned.
I'm from Ohio, so I do have a passing interest in this, but I'm not one of his constituents, so my opinion doesn't matter in the long run anyway, but I still have a right to an opinion.
If you are in his district, I presume you will vote for him. If he is not on the ballot and you have to do it as a write-in, be sure to put his prison ID number next to his name.
Me, myself, I vote against the Democrats every chance I get, so he wouldn't be getting my vote anyway.
All the Best, BJN
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