48.41 % (380)   |
| 51.59 % (405) |
Total Votes: 785
We allow just one vote per day
Posted on 08/08/2002 4:59:15 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
Do you believe Jim Traficant should be permitted to run for Congress from his prison cell?
Cast your vote HERE.
Yes = 47.38
No = 52.62
724 votes
Deemed UNFIT to interpret the law... yet completely able to MAKE THE LAW.
I don't see a significant difference between Hastings and Trafficant.
Let him run!
Not so fast....
Federal prisoner Jim Traficant has a residency problem
By REUTERS
Aug 7, 2002
Convicted felon and former Rep. James Traficant wishes he could "beam up" to Ohio.
Traficant, who is serving an 8-year sentence at a federal prison in Pennsylvania, is on Ohio's ballot for now, but residency requirements could knock him off, officials said.
Traficant, a Democrat who often used the television science-fiction phrase "beam me up" in his rambling political speeches, is trying to win reelection even though in July he was thrown out of the House of Representatives where he had been a member for nine terms.
The problem: he is in jail in Pennsylvania and Ohio law requires that him to be a resident of Ohio to be eligible for the state's ballot.
"It's up in the air right now," said Norma Williams, director of the Trumbull County Board of Elections, one of two counties making up Ohio's 17th Congressional District.
The county is seeking a legal opinion on Traficant's independent candidacy in light of his imprisonment outside the state. Residency is a constitutional requirement for running for office.
Traficant, 61, has said he believes he will win a 10th term in the newly reconfigured district, though Congress voted to expel him July 24 based on his conviction for running his office as a racketeering enterprise.
Traficant has appealed the conviction and also requested that he serve his sentence in Ohio, his home state, but was shipped on Monday to the Allenwood low-security federal prison in White Deer, Pennsylvania.
The prison has barracks-like dormitories with cubicles containing two or three bunk beds each for its 1,375 inmates. Prisoners have mail and limited telephone privileges, but no access to the Internet, a Bureau of Prisons spokesman said.
Famous for his one-minute rants on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, his throwback wardrobe, and his tousled thatch of gray hair, Traficant is forbidden by prison rules from wearing his toupee in prison.
His candidacy may rest on the definition of the term "inhabitant," said Carlo LoParo, a spokesman for the Ohio Secretary of State's office. While Traficant met the criteria when he filed for reelection, his imprisonment outside the state could nix his candidacy -- but that was up to local election officials to decide.
"It's such a gray area, no one has any answers to this," said Dean Caputo, who describes himself as a personal friend to Traficant. "Nobody has done anything like this before ... He's going forward."
Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit in Columbus, challenging Republican Gov. Bob Taft's decision not to hold an interim election for Traficant's seat because of its $800,000 cost.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Columbus, said "considerations of cost and convenience provide no justification, let alone a compelling justification, to ignore this mandate."
U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus ordered the state to respond by Aug. 13, and said he would hear oral arguments within a week after that.
© Copyright 2002 by Capitol Hill Blue
Yes 47.98 % (356)
No 52.02 % (386)
Total Votes: 742
(grew up in Toledo/Perrysburg, BGSU & OSU alum. PS: Marcy Kaptur should be next!)
If felons are allowed to vote, then he should be allowed to run.
Vote HERE
p.s. And remember, this poll is being featured on the FRONT PAGE of the Vindicator (Traficant's hometown newspaper).
Oh, and don't forget to Vote HERE.
| 48.41 % (380) |
| 51.59 % (405) |
Vote HERE.
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