Posted on 08/30/2002 8:06:11 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) - Former Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. will stay on the Nov. 5 election ballot, even though he has been expelled from the House and is housed in federal prison, elections officials said Wednesday.
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The Trumbull County Board of Elections said it won't act to remove the expelled congressman from the ballot.
Prosecutor Dennis Watkins told the board it didn't have the authority to remove Traficant because the U.S. Constitution grants citizens the right to vote for and elect whomever they choose.
The only limits set by the Constitution for House members are that they be at least 25 years old, U.S. citizens and an inhabitant of the state from which they are elected.
Watkins said Traficant could be considered an Ohio resident because his wife lives there and his stay in a Pennsylvania prison is involuntary confinement.
Traficant, 61, was expelled from the House last month and sentenced to eight years in prison for bribery, racketeering and tax evasion. The nine-term congressman is an inmate at the minimum-security Allenwood federal prison in White Deer, Pa.
He petitioned to be on the ballot as an independent in Ohio's recently redrawn 17th District and vowed to run from jail.
Yes they will! They know that Traficant is the ONLY ONE who could put the 17th District in the news. If they elect Traficant, there will be TONS of news stories about the 17th District. Hell, almost every night Leno or Letterman would be telling Traficant jokes.
Which is NOW Independent (NOT Demmycrat). Break out your squirrel/wigs for the November celebration party, folks! Traficant is gonna WIN!!!
Is Bush planning a campaign fund-raiser for Traficant yet?
I'd donate.
Ashland, Missouri
Among other things, the construction of new comedy clubs in that district. Plus they would have the honor of having the MOST FAMOUS person in Congress representing them. Hell, who can resist watching Traficant giving his famous "BEAM ME UP!" speeches again after his release from prison (which will be happening in a few months).
I see absolutely no gain or advantage for the GOP or conservative cause in promoting or supporting this convict, regardless of the motivation or reason.
He is an idiot and a confessed democrat.
I will not support a confessed democrat, regardless of the circumstances.
To do so makes us look just like the idiot that he is.
He is gone and the world of US politics is better for it.
When one lies down with dogs, one gets up with fleas. To support or offer support to this idiot will give us all fleas.
And spare me the "he was railroaded" crap. His PEERS did it to him, no "vast right wing conspiracy" was involved.
And anyone that thinks that Traficant, if elected from prison, would be any better than a democrat elected not in prison, that person surely cannot see that a democrat is a worthless idiot in the first place.
Traficant is NOT a DINO, nor is he a wannabe Republican. He is simply a crooked politician that got caught and in his attempt to shift blame from his own crooked self, now espouses all kinds of "framed", "railroaded" and "conspiracy" crap that not even he believes.
Let us not forget that Traficant voted against impeachment of the 'Toon, giving an impassioned plea in his defense, nearly as impassioned as the one he now spouts about his so-called "innocence".
To hell with Traficant. The conservative cause would do well to direct our attentions toward more worthy issues than whether or not a convict democrat in prison beats a democrat that probably should be in prison. The only difference in a democrat in prison and one not in prison, is the bars. They're both damn crooks.
WHO? WHO? WHO??? I want to know the name of that lousy HERETIC who is breaking up the wonderful unanimity here.
SCRATCH! SCRATCH! SCRATCH!
Do I have your permission to laminate that quote and put it in my wallet?
SCRATCH! SCRATCH! SCRATCH!
Can you imagine working for a company that has a little
more than 500 employees and has the following statistics:
* 29 have been accused of spousal abuse
* 7 have been arrested for fraud
* 19 have been accused of writing bad checks
*117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
* 3 have done time for assault
* 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
* 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
* 8 have been arrested for shoplifting
* 21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
* 84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year
Can you guess which organization this is?
Give up yet?
It's the 535 members of the United States Congress.
The same group of Idiots that crank out hundreds of new
laws each year designed to keep the rest of us in line.
Nicely hypocritical, huh?
This is the way it was e-mailed to me about a year ago..
But you will support a covert liberal named GW Bush. Because he wears the republican tag.
: )
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