A stain or a cleansing? Valley pols differ

Most say that the focus now must be on the future.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- If the adage that the bigger they are, the harder they fall, is true in politics, the Mahoning Valley should have felt a shuddering thud when a federal jury brought down U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant.
"He's a folk hero in Mahoning County politics," said Mahoning County Commissioner Ed Reese. "He went down fighting. It's a shame that his career in politics seems to be ending on a note like this."
Reese said the jury's verdict sent a clear message to elected officials at all levels: "You'd better mind your P's and Q's."
The local political community was divided over whether the verdict puts a black cloud over the Valley, or if it lifts one.
Reese said Traficant's across-the-board conviction will be "another black eye" on the Valley, which is still reeling from seeing so many of its leaders convicted of corruption.
Ryan: But state Sen. Timothy J. Ryan of Niles, D-32nd, didn't see it that way.
"We don't have to say it's a black eye," said Ryan, a candidate for the new 17th District congressional seat. "We say it's a part of our history now, and we move on."
While Traficant was always a controversial figure, Ryan said the nine-term congressman has loomed large in local politics for years.
"The bottom line is that at one point Jim Traficant was getting elected with 93 percent of the vote," Ryan said.
But despite his popularity among voters, an aroma of corruption always seemed attached to Traficant, said David Ditzler, Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman. He hopes the conviction helps clear the air.
"It's the dawn of a new day in Mahoning County," Ditzler said. "It's the closing of the Traficant era and a new opportunity for us."
Ditzler said when the Democrats for Change swept to power in the mid-1990s, they set their sights on ousting Traficant and James A. Philomena, William A. Fergus and Phil Chance, who were the county prosecutor, engineer and sheriff at the time.
Those four were targeted because they were believed to be corrupt.
"And over the years, it certainly has played out that way," Ditzler said.
Chance and Philomena are serving time in federal prisons for racketeering. Fergus also went to prison, but has since been released.
Ditzler and Commissioner Vicki Allen Sherlock said Traficant's conviction completes the cleansing process.
"I do believe it is a purging of the corruption from the Valley," Sherlock said. "It certainly is a relief to not have this hanging over our heads any longer."
Ludt: Mahoning County Commissioner David Ludt, who testified on Traficant's behalf during the trial, was shocked at the verdict. He believed Traficant had swayed enough jurors his way to get a hung jury.
"I felt sure he had at least three people on his side. I guess I read it wrong," Ludt said.
A hung jury would have been viewed as a victory for Traficant and would have propelled him into the governor's office, Ludt said. But the conviction will make it difficult, if not impossible, for Traficant to seek re-election.
Traficant has announced he would run as an independent candidate in the newly aligned 17th District, against U.S. Rep. Thomas Sawyer, a Democrat from Akron, who holds the 14th District seat.
Dr. William Binning, chairman of Youngstown State University's political science department, said Traficant's downfall was the disrespectful way with which he treated Judge Lesley Brooks Wells.
"He played that badly," Binning said. "Those jurors had a lot of respect for her, and they did not react well to him treating her that way."
Trumbull: For all his color and charisma, Traficant's absence from the political scene won't create a huge void, said Nicholas J. Melfi of Girard, chairman of the Trumbull County Democratic Party.
"He was an attention-getter, but we'll get somebody new in there, and I think we'll keep moving right along," Melfi said.
Trumbull County Commissioner Michael O'Brien, though, said he thinks the impact will be positive, especially for Trumbull County. O'Brien said he felt the county hadn't gotten effective representation in Congress for the past several years.
"This is basically like a cleansing and we can just go forward," O'Brien said.
Commissioner David Cranmer of Columbiana County also said he doesn't expect much impact on his county since Traficant was no longer going to be its representative after this year. Columbiana County will be a part of the newly formed 6th District.
Capitol Hill: Sawyer, reached at his Washington, D.C., office, said the verdict brought a "pervasive sense of relief" to Capitol Hill.
"All of us, on one level or another, feel sad for Jim and his family, but we're glad to get this chapter behind us," Sawyer said.
The sadness is tempered by the nature of the crimes for which Traficant was convicted, which Sawyer said are an affront to all other members of the House.
"That activity is against the law and against the rules of this body," he said.
What's next: With Traficant's grip on the Valley now apparently loosened for good, Reese said it will fall to community leaders to chart a course for progress and improvement.
"The onus is on us now as elected officials to pick up and go from here," he said.
Thomas Humphries, president of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, agreed it's time to put Traficant in the past and look ahead.
"The trial is over, and we are focused on the future," Humphries said in a prepared statement. He said the Valley has much to offer, including a favorable business climate, affordable real estate and vibrant cultural and recreational amenities.
"With the congressman's verdict, I believe we can move on to other issues at hand."
bjackson@vindy.com