True to form, Traficant remains his own biggest fan

True to form, Traficant remains his own biggest fan

On Sunday, any number of churches in the Mahoning Valley would have seen more than 1,000 congregants pass through their doors, more than 80,000 people went to the Canfield Fair (7,000 to the George Jones and Hank Williams Jr. concert), several thousand people went to a car show at the Trumbull County Fairgrounds and hundreds of thousands spent the day with friends and family. And yet, some would have us believe that the 1,200 people who turned out to greet a disgraced, crooked congressman as a returning hero are the voice of the Valley.

To be sure, the crowd that greeted James A. Traficant Jr. at his welcoming party at Mr. Anthony’s in Boardman was impressive. And it was enthusiastic. They were largely true believers in the Traficant legend. And they have every right to be what they are. What they aren’t is the voice of the Mahoning Valley, at least not the Mahoning Valley today.

Selective memory

They remember what they want to remember about Jim Traficant, for instance that as sheriff he stood up to evil banks that were trying to throw people into the street. They forget that Traficant never put a face on that alleged assault on struggling families, because most of the properties in question were vacant. And when push came to shove with a mild mannered Common Pleas Court judge, Sheriff Traficant quickly back peddled.

They remember him as a tough, law-and-order sheriff, but forget that some of his undisciplined deputies, especially members of the auxiliary force, behaved in ways that not only made headlines, but attracted embarrassing and expensive lawsuits.

After his remarkable acquittal the first time he faced federal bribery charges, Traficant famously warned area mobsters to get out of town because he was coming after them. How many mob bosses did he arrest? None. It took federal agents — the same agents Traficant accuses of being part of a grand conspiracy against him — to break the back of organized crime in Traficant’s backyard. Those who claim he wasn’t crooked can only conclude that he must have been inept.

But Jim Traficant has a powerful personality, and he’s always been good at making people think he’s either a savior or a victim. And he’s never been above making comparisons from which an honest man would shrink.

A prison stretch

Consider his willingness Sunday to invoke the name of Nelson Mandela, the fearless opponent of apartheid in South Africa. He quoted Mandela as saying, “If you want to know the true nature of a country, you must go through its prisons.”

“I know America. I’ve seen the other side of it, and I don’t like it,” Traficant declared to cheers.

Reality check: Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years, most of that time in the infamous Robben Island Maximum Security Prison, where he withstood extremely harsh conditions. He was allowed one visitor and one letter every six months, and the prison didn’t even have a medical staff.

Traficant, on the other hand, did most his time in a medical facility where he was presumably treated for an unspecified condition. He corresponded freely, worked out in the gym and pursued hobbies such as painting. To most eyes, he came out of prison looking better than he did going in,

None of that stopped Traficant from shamelessly implying that he had learned the same lessons as Mandela.

The remark provided a perfect snapshot of Traficant. In his mind, it’s always about him. It always has been, and we don’t suspect that will ever change. What has changed is fewer people are interested in tying their future to such a discredited self-serving relic of the past.