James Anthony Traficant Jr. was a Democratic, and later independent, politician and member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio. He represented the 17th Congressional District, which centered on his hometown of Youngstown and included parts of three counties in northeast Ohio's Mahoning Valley. He was expelled from the House after being convicted of taking bribes, filing false tax returns, racketeering and forcing his aides to perform chores at his farm in Ohio and houseboat in Washington, D.C. He was sentenced to prison and released on September 2, 2009, after serving a seven-year sentence.
Traficant died on September 27, 2014, as the result of injuries sustained in an accident that had occurred several days earlier when his tractor flipped over as he was driving it into his barn.
“Many of them are so dumb they could throw themselves at the ground and miss.”
Denunciation of the press (18 July 2002), quoted in House panel votes to expel Traficant, Inside Politics, CNN.com, July 18, 2002, 2007-01-08 http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/07/18/traficant.ethics/index.html,
speech on the House floor (12 NOV 1997)
Said on numerous occasions at the end of speeches in Congress, quoted in Traficant guilty of bribery, racketeering, Law Center, CNN.com, April 12, 2002, 2007-01-31 http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/04/11/traficant.trial/index.html,
