Jim Traficant dead at 73

[Ed W]

Former congressman Jim Traficant died from injuries sustained when a tractor rolled over on him. Traficant was expelled from congress after a corruption investigation and subsequent guilty verdict.

When I lived in Pennsylvania, Traficant was the Mahoning County Sheriff, if I recall right. The FBI brought corruption charges against him as part of a grand jury investigation, but when it came to trial, all the witnesses recanted their grand jury testimony. Traficant was alleged to have extensive mob connections, though the charges were never proved.



Perhaps he was ahead of his time. He could have been a precursor to the Tea Party. As an example, there's this nugget:

"Mr. Speaker, a new report says only 7 percent of scientists believe in God. That is right. And the reason they gave was that the scientists are `super smart.' Unbelievable. Most of these absent-minded professors cannot find the toilet," Traficant once railed on the House floor. "I have one question for these wise guys to constipate over: How can some thing come from no thing? And while they digest that, Mr. Speaker, let us tell it like it is. Put these super-cerebral master debaters in some foxhole with bombs bursting all around them, and I guarantee they will not be praying to Frankenstein. Beam me up."

There's a short bio on Politico:

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/james-traficant-dies-73-111373.html