For the good of the 17th District ...

What's good for the 17th Congressional District isn't necessarily good for this political observer. Republican Ann Womer Benjamin is good for the district and thus deserves to be elected Tuesday to the U.S. House of Representatives. But with Womer Benjamin in Washington, this columnist will be deprived of one of his favorite pastimes: skewering the member of Congress from this area.
For the past 17 years, James A. Traficant Jr. was a constant source of column fodder. The Democratic congressman from Poland turned buffoonery into an art form and expanded the definition of public service to include corruption.
But now Traficant is in a federal penitentiary and even though he is on Tuesday's ballot as an independent candidate for the 17th District seat, he has little chance of winning.
Thus, this columnist's only hope lies with "Traficant Lite," Democrat Tim Ryan, a state senator from Niles. Critiquing his performance in Congress would be as thrilling as shooting fish in a barrel. He's that easy.
His pontificating would keep the column fodder bank full.
No, he wouldn't accomplish much -- his 22 months in the Ohio Senate gives new meaning to the phrase "record in office" -- and he certainly wouldn't restore the reputation of the Mahoning Valley.
During his 17 years on Capitol Hill, Traficant became a reflection of the people of the region. His one-minute tirades on the floor of the House for which he became famous provided much needed levity to the proceedings, but the joke was really on us.
We, the residents of Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties -- they comprise the current 17th District -- were reflected in his verbosity, his bad hairstyle, his thrift-store wardrobe and his corruption.
Thus, when he was expelled from the House prior to his being sentenced to eight years in federal prison, the question asked around Washington was this: Who will replace Traficant?
In the May primary, a veteran congressman, Democrat Tom Sawyer of Akron, whose current district changed as a result of redistricting, ran for the party nomination in the new 17th. It encompasses most of Trumbull County, the northeast part of Mahoning, a portion of Portage and a part of Summit.
Crowded race
Ryan was in the crowded race -- and won. It didn't matter to the Democratic voters that his qualifications, experience and intelligence paled in comparison to Sawyer's.
It seemed that the voters who did show up for the primary -- it was one of the lowest turnouts in recent history -- decided to go with the next best thing to Traficant since their man wasn't on the ballot.
On Tuesday, comparatively more voters will go to the polls and will get to choose from only three candidates in the race for the new 17th District seat. Traficant, while not campaigning in person, has been airing television and radio commercials that were cut before he went to prison.
Without a doubt they are designed to highlight the differences between him and the Democratic nominee.
Traficant is well aware of Womer Benjamin's eight-year record in the Ohio House of Representatives and the fact that she has sponsored many bills that have been enacted into law. He also knows that Ryan has yet to find his political bearings in Columbus and that his being a Democrat has become an excuse for nonperformance in the Republican dominated General Assembly.
By contrast, one of Traficant's commercials focuses on all the projects he was able to bring to the district by working with the Republican leadership in the U.S. House.
The message to be gleaned from Traficant's commercial is simply this: It takes a special kind of Democrat to be able to accomplish anything in the GOP controlled House. Or, it takes a Republican.
With the Republicans expected to retain the majority in the House, the best thing for the 17th District would be to send a well-respected, well-connected party member to Washington. Ann Womer Benjamin has the contacts with the congressional leadership and the White House to get things done.
But having a policy wonk representing this district, talking about substantive issues and actually sponsoring legislation would be disastrous for a columnist who revels in blood-and-guts politics.
Of course the good of the 17th District must come first.
A column on basket-weaving could be controversial, could it not?