Former Congressman Jim Traficant Dies from Injuries Related to Tractor Accident

[riverwalker]

Source: Cleveland Leader

Former U.S. Congressman James A. Traficant Jr., who represented Ohio's fourth district for two decades, has died. A spokesman for the family confirmed that Traficant died Saturday at St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown.

The 73-year-old was involved in a serious tractor accident on Tuesday evening at his family farm in Greenford and had been in "very critical condition", according to his wife Trish. Traficant was driving a 1943 tractor which rolled over backward onto him while he was in the driver's seat, trapping him underneath the tractor.

A number of people close to the Traficant family have said that it is believed that he suffered a heart attack, which caused the tractor accident. It has also been said that he has shown no brain activity since the accident.

Traficant, a Democrat, served over 17 years in the U.S. House of Representatives until he was ousted in July 2002 after a federal jury convicted him of 10 felony counts, including racketeering, tax evasion, obstruction of justice, and bribery. Traficant was sentenced to seven years in prison and was released in September 2009, after which he hosted talk shows and even wrote a book.


Read more: http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/23066

[TwilightGardener]

1. Tractors, the bane of older men...alongside snow shoveling.

[markpkessinger]

20. I grew up in rural PA . . .

. . . and these kinds of accidents were all too common, especially among older farmers, who would keep their ancient tractors in use for decades (I think the problem of front-over-back flipping has largely been addressed in newer tractor models).

[Aerows]

27. He was on a "vintage" tractor

according to the news, and it got hung up and flipped backwards.

It is unfortunately, not an uncommon story among those who know farm workers in the earlier days when tractors first started becoming standard equipment. My father said he knew a man on one that had it flip over and it broke his back. He survived, but was in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

A lot of people don't appreciate how dangerous farming is and the risks taken to put food on the table.

Sad .

[upaloopa]

51. Many of the old tractors had cement blocks

hung on above the front wheels as weight.

[Skittles]

2. my sympathy to his loved ones

[ColesCountyDem]

3. So sad!

What happened to former Rep. Traficant is one of the reasons I dislike this time of year. Although the weather's delightful and the fields are ripe-to-bursting with grain, I know that someone will die in a tractor, augur or grain bin accident, before the harvest is over.

R.I.P.

[Brother Buzz]

4. Very few vintage tractors are retrofitted with Rollover Protection Structures (ROPS)

[mike dub]

16. Best thoughts to his family and friends

My smaller new diesel tractor also has a ROP System (roll bar and seatbelt). Rollovers (and PTO entanglement) are major dangers related to tractors.

[Brother Buzz]

19. That, and being run over by your own damn tractor may be third

My friend's father, a spry ninety year old orchard man was run over and killed when he stepped off to make an engine adjustment on a classical old orchard tractor.

I attended an American Society of Agricultural Engineers dinner at UC Davis where they unveiled this plaque:

[LovingA2andMI]

5. In Remembrance....

[Peacetrain]

7. My deepest sympathies for the family

[Raine1967]

8. That sucks.

My father had an accident like that a few decades ago. He survived but his body was never the same.

[LoisB]

9. My condolences to his family and friends.

[candelista]

10. What a strange life.

Congressman, convict, killed by tractor.

[drray23]

11. tractors can be a death trap

I rolled one on the family farm when i was 19 yr old. We were compacting silage. The way you do that is climb up the silo with your tractor. Very easy to flip if you are not weighted down properly and careful. Giving too much torque when climbing up makes your tractor rear up.

Luckily i was able to jump out and avoided being crushed.

[sorefeet]

12. I bet I could count

a half dozen tractor accidents involving old geezers and they all died. That's in the last 30 years. So it isn't uncommon. My landlords dad died when his old 194? johnny popper caught on fire. He knew to take the wire out of the magneto when fueling but he didn't this time. He was 83, probably shouldn't have been around the machinery. Another one flopped a tractor over in an irrigation ditch. Another on got his clothes caught up in a PTO. Spun him until it ran out of gas. Old men and machinery don't mix.

[riverwalker]

13. Rest In Peace

I did not know this.
Saw this on Twitter:
#RIPJimTraficant As Mahoning Co. Sheriff, refused to foreclose steelworkers' homes. Hated Congress' bullshit. Great man. #BeamMeUpScotty

Sheriff of Mahoning County from 1981 to 1985. While serving as Sheriff, Traficant made national headlines by refusing to execute foreclosure orders on several unemployed homeowners, many of whom had been left out of work by the recent closures of steel mills. This endeared him to the local population, which was dealing with a declining economy following the closures and relocations of steel making and steel-associated businesses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Traficant

[markpkessinger]

23. I never knew that either!

Most of what I knew of him centered around the scandals at the end of his career. Nice to know about this side of him. Thanks for sharing that!

[awoke_in_2003]

14. When my grandfather was a minister...

at a church in the suburbs outside of Youngstown, I met Traficant. It was probably around 79-80 time frame. Say what you will about the trouble he got in, but he (at the time) seemed like a very nice (although maybe a bit eccentric) guy. He definitely had a presence.

[reddread]

25. he was fun to watch

[awoke_in_2003]

26. And the people of Youngstown loved him...

he was flawed, but he was real.

[reddread]

28. when a politician gets thrown in jail

I can only wonder what he was doing right.

[awoke_in_2003]

29. I know, right? nt

[laserhaas]

31. JT was railroaded into prison by a corrupt DOJ.

I wanted to speak to him about getting his conviction over turned.

It seems like everything is collapsing all around.

1st Holder resignation and now this.

Sheessshhhh!

[marshall]

33. Gary Condit better watch his back

He is the third part in this equation.

[laserhaas]

34. Please explain your equation?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Condit

[awoke_in_2003]

36. The one thing I never understood...

was his defense of John Demjanjuk.

[postulater]

15. Not just tractors

A friend fell into a silo and got buried by corn.

[markpkessinger]

22. Farming has always been a very dangerous business, alas n/t

[mahatmakanejeeves]

49. Silo entrapment happens so quickly.

Silos Loom as Death Traps on American Farms

The incident that occurred in Mount Carroll, Illinois, back in 2010 is particularly disturbing:

Death of 14-Year-Old Worker Due to Dangerous Conditions in Grain Storage Bins

[TheNutcracker]

17. So sorry for the family

[Drunken Irishman]

18. Beam him up!

[Delphinus]

24. Amen!

[Purveyor]

21. Jim was one of a kind, the kind that is lacking in todays politics. You are missed

by many.

Prayers and godspeed to the Traficant family.

[laserhaas]

30. I just got his cell number from his friend; and was planning to try to meet him next week.

He was a true man; who was railroaded into prison by a corrupt Dept. of Justice.
(Believed done so - because he called USAG Reno a traitor for China).

[JEFF9K]

32. Talk about your D.I.N.O. ...

If I'm not mistaken, Traficant voted with the Republicans more than any other Democrat.

[laserhaas]

37. JT didn't vote party lines; he voted on what he believed was right lines.

And we lost a true American patriot; when they railroaded him out of the House.

[JEFF9K]

40. What he believed was right, was conservatism.

Making him wrong.

[JohnnyRingo]

43. Yes...

Last edited Sun Sep 28, 2014, 11:23 AM - Edit history (2)

I refer to his supporters- conservatives who are most now in their 60s and older- as Traficant Democrats. Many joined the Tea Party in '08. Indeed, Traficant notably made an anti-Obama speech at an early Tea Party rally here. He was the model phony politician, swinging like a weather vane at the slightest change in voter perspective. Even his trademark bad haircut was a rug as revealed in his prison mugshot.

Many of his famed three minute rants while in office involved outsourcing, making him very popular with the aging union base here in NE Ohio, and while I think that's noble enough, his actual accomplishments can be tallied on one hand. His youthful successor, Tim Ryan, is 10 times the rep Traficant was. I can drive through town and point at things that Ryan actually brought to the district through federal earmarks.

The legend of JT far overshadows the man himself. Having said that, I wish his family comfort in the days ahead.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

46. not to mention he threw in in with David Duke

YOUNGSTOWN (TDB) -- Sleaze supporting sleaze is how it looks with David Duke -- the Jew-hating Louisiana race-baiter -- sticking up for imprisoned former U.S. Rep. James Traficant. Material was distributed last week on Duke's official Website that portrayed the corrupt former Ohio congressman as victim of a massive government conspiracy. The material includes a letter from prison by Traficant, who said he was placed behind bars because he knows too much, including what happened to former Teamsters Union leader Jimmy Hoffa and who really was behind the murder of John F. Kennedy in 1963.

http://thebellwetherdaily.blogspot.com/2007/08/ohios-crooked-dem-jim-traficant-racist.html

and was a frequent guest and pal of racist tinfoil hatter Alex Jones:

Fuck him. He was a rightwing fraud, posing as a populist. There's a reason Rush Limbaugh declared him his "favorite Democrat" and begged him to join the GOP.

[Reter]

47. Jones is a conspiracy nut but not a racist

n/t

[alp227]

52. Actually...

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/profiles/alex-jones

And while Jones disavows racism, he sometimes walks a fine line in his pronouncements. In August 2011, he featured an article on Infowars that called the Department of Homeland Security’s “If you see something, say something” terrorism-awareness campaign a racist conspiracy to “characterize predominantly white, middle class, politically engaged Americans as domestic extremists.”

Also: http://aattp.org/watch-tucker-carlson-go-full-racist-with-insane-whacko-alex-jones-video/

[Kermitt Gribble]

42. Do you have anything to back up that statement?

Jim Traficant was a strong supporter of unions and the working class. The working class people in Youngstown and the surrounding areas always had a voice when he was in office.

[JohnnyRingo]

44. He mostly opposed outsourcing.

While that made him popular among the union base here (including me), his actual accomplishments ended with each colorful three minute rant on the House floor.

Traficant exposed his conservative roots with a well publicized anti-Obama speech at an early Tea Party rally in the courthouse square in Warren. I was hoping Scotty would finally beam his ass up mid way through.

Very little of the Traficant legend was real. His tawdry suits were carefully crafted to stand out, and even his notoriously bad haircut was revealed to be a toupee in his prison mugshot. He changed his name during his political genesis to avoid an obvious connection to the infamous Youngstown Traficanti crime family.

Traficant's initial stunt that propelled him into the political spotlight was crashing his unmarked sheriff car through the locked gates of the Pagan motorcycle clubhouse in Mahoning County. It was covered closely by a tipped off media at the scene. Jim Traficant was a smart pol, but the conviction that sent him to prison was not his first indictment for hi-jacking taxpayer money for his own gain. It was just the first and last one proven in court.

I'll take his successor Tim Ryan anyday. We still have a strong voice in Congress, one who actually does things for the 17th district.

[JEFF9K]

48. Check the voting records.

[Kermitt Gribble]

55. Looks left of center to me, for the most part,

with strong support for labor.

http://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/27023/james-traficant-jr#.VCnh0xb1bhE

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/browse?sponsor=400611

[JEFF9K]

56. If I remember correctly ...

he was singled out as being at or near the top of a list of DINOs in a Michael Moore bestseller.

He was known as Rush Limbaugh's favorite Democrat. I could rest my case right there, but ...

He was good friends with our local Rush clone, where he recently called for a flat consumption tax and forcing everyone receiving public assistance to work on road crews two days a week.

[nomorenomore08]

35. Poor guy. R.I.P.

[freshwest]

38. RIP and condolences to his family. What a colorful life he lived.

[brooklynite]

39. How many other dead corrupt politicians will elicit sympathy?

Or does he get special dispensation for being colorful?

[MADem]

54. I think you've nailed it--he does get a dispensation for being both colorful and funny.

His "Beam Me Up" one minute speeches were hilarious, most of them. He always got the House off to a good start. People would actually attend to hear him expound on this or that grievance in the morning, because he was very witty indeed, even if one didn't agree with him.

Wit counts for a lot.

[NaturalHigh]

41. This is sad. Condolences to his family.

[bigwillq]

45. RIP (nt)

[CTyankee]

50. While it was terrible for him to die like that and I have sympathy for his family, this guy

was anti-choice and IMO nasty about it. He was a believer in the partial birth abortion crap and called it "killing babies."

Sorry, I'll hold my estimation of this man based on what he did in his political career, believing and promoting the harmful, anti-woman, anti choice position while in Congress.

[MADem]

53. He provided me with many moments of genuine laughter while he was in the

House. His one-minute speeches were a thing to behold.

Mistah Speeeekah...Beam. Me. UP!!!!!!



He represented his constituents well, even though he was a crook and often a lousy Democrat.

RIP, Mister Traficant--you've been beamed up at long last.