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.
Also the same group who vote to toss out a member for having a contituent pour some concrete into his driveway. CRIME OF THE CENTURY!!!
Kookie, Kookie, lend me your comb!
1. Incredible entertainment (lost of comedic material for Leno and Letterman).
2. An embarressed Demmycrat candidate who got beaten by an inmate.
3. An entire Congress who are gonna look like they just got collectively bitch-slapped (especially that idiot Hulshof from Missouri) when Jimbo returns to their "august" chambers.
4. A mass audience for all Trificant "BEAM ME UP!" speeches in the future.
5. A sudden run on squirrel/wigs as a hot Halloween and Christmas item.
6. A return of sartorial splendor to Congress....NOT!
This could be the list of my fellow members of my church. All of us fall short.
Not me. I'M PERFECT!
gunnedah : ask about it.
I know we all fall short of the glory of God.
WRONG!
I support the conservative cause and a strict interpretation of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.
So far, that "covert liberal", as you have labeled him, and the Republican party are the only two entities/organizations that agree most with the way I feel.
I will not support anyone or anything blindly.
I voted for Bush with reservations. So far, he has lived up to my expectations of him. Admittedly, those expectations were low, as I do feel that Bush has some definite liberal tendencies, but he was, for me at least, much the better choice than that idiot Gore or the even more of an idiot Nader.
My wife is still working on me. So far I have given up drinking, smoking, fatty foods, caffeine and wiskers in sink. Still on her list is staring at girls, socks on the floor, helping around the house and probably more than I know as of yet. In 100 years I'll be perfect.
To me, Traficant is the "Anti-Sosh." Remember the "Soshes" from high school. They were the phony frat types who were always running for Student Council or Student Body president. They gave you phoney smiles but tried to be slick. It's the same type that grew up to become Congressmen. Traficant was a glaring exception to that rule. No "sosh" would be caught dead wearing those baggy beige clothes of his or talk like he did.
So among many other reasons, I like Traficant because he is the Anti-Sosh.
Not if Petra Verkaik walks by your window because you would quickly relapse to your "staring at girls" phase.
According to Jimbo, he's aiming for the crotch.
Regards, Ivan
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