Talk:James Traficant

Text from 2004
Revision of this former last paragraph:


 * He is known for his terrible toupee, frankness, and willingness to vote independently of his party.

Until we can get one more source on that point. Never seen anything else about a hairpiece, other publications spoke of that as his real hair. Ellsworth 23:22, 24 May 2004 (UTC)


 * I'm going to add the blurb back in. This can easily be confirmed by going to Google and typing in "Traficant Hair Piece". CNN has an article on his hair, along with the local Ohio paper. --Mrbrown 06:55, 12 Jun 2004 (UTC)

My understanding is that the title of the page for people should reflect the most common usage of his or her name. Traficant is and was most often referred to as "Jim Traficant" in the press. Any reason this should not be moved to "Jim Traficant"? Acsenray 19:49, 19 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Second (?) person to run for federal office from prison
I don't think it's accurate to say that Mr. Traficant was the second person ever to run for federal office while in prison. One example that comes to mind is a fellow named J. John Gordon who ran for president in 1976 and eventually filed a lawsuit claiming that the election had been effectively stolen from him: Gordon v. Secretary of State of New Jersey, 460 F. Supp. 1026 (D. N.J. 1978), republished at http://members.aol.com/schwenkler/wcc/gordon.htm An argument could be made that Gordon didn't really run for president, but the better view is probably that he was a candidate. Anyway, I'm willing to bet there have been quite a few others as well. For example, Leonard Peltier has run for President from prison (I believe he was nominated by the Peace & Freedom Party in 2004, but I think---we need to check whether---he was running for federal office before then, at least as the subject of a "Draft Peltier" effort, perhaps mostly as a write-in candidate), and I'm imagining (not clearly enough to call it remembering) that Mumia (while on Death Row) might even have been on the ballot (for Vice-President?) in some states.

Eugene Debs is of course the most famous presidential candidate to run while in prison, but I'm not sure he was the FIRST federal candidate to run from prison.

I believe that Lyndon LaRouche was running for president in 1992 during the time he was in prison, but this should also be checked.160.253.0.248 16:57, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)

David Duke ran for Congress from prison, also.

Infobox
The James Traficant infobox seems to be screwed up. I've tried fixing it, to no avail. Micahbrwn 01:21, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

Artwork
We need a picture of this guy's prison artwork, it's actually pretty good. 141.213.141.25 15:36, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

RICO acquittal
I'm not sure about this, but didn't Giacomo DiNorscio successfully defend himself from RICO charges?

Education
In what subject did Traficant receive his graduate degree? Fishhead64 21:19, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

John Demjanjuk cites
Material on John_Demjanjuk needs to be sourced - at present it is significantly in conflict with the accout given at John_Demjanjuk. If you have cites for this section pleaser also correct John_Demjanjuk. SmithBlue 07:07, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

A criminal?
I have a problem with Jim Traficant being included under "WikiProject Criminal Biography". Jim Traficant is NOT a criminal, he has done so many good things for our part of Ohio over the years. He is a political prisoner, and more information about his unfair trial before Judge Leslie Brooks Wells and hearings before Congress should be posted in the article. Steve LaTourette was instrumental in this too, getting rid of Traficant was a political decsion and should be treated as such. Windsorwindsor1 (talk) 18:48, 3 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Doing "good" (or popular, anyway) things for his district and being a criminal are hardly mutually exclusive. As for being a "political prisoner", got a cite for that? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.166.27.13 (talk) 20:46, 26 January 2010 (UTC)


 * What qualifies as sufficient citation for being a political prisoner? Every political prisoner in history has had some trumped-up charges levied against him so the imprisoning government could say that he's not a political prisoner.  Certainly there are many who assert that Traficant is one, but where does WP draw the line? BillMcGonigle (talk) 15:38, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

Telephone log attorney billing evidence
What is that? Is there an "and" missing? I'd understand "telephone-log and attorney-billing evidence".

Also, the Web site linked to in the reference for that doesn't mention Traficant. Is there a good source for it?

I too would like to know what his master's degrees were in. &mdash;JerryFriedman (Talk) 05:40, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

2012 Presidential bid
Does Jim's felony conviction preclude him for running for President in 2012 ? Would a paradon help ?? 209.87.237.21 (talk) 07:59, 6 March 2009 (UTC)


 * His felony conviction does not automatically disqualify him from any public office. According to the Constitution (see Article 1.7) the House of Reps DOES have the power to permanently bar him from any public office, as a result of him having been expelled. However it does not appear that they have actually done this yet. Manning (talk) 17:28, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Needs clarification
The paragraph that includes: "from a patent-holding test pilot who has a Top Secret security clearance" isn't really clear. Also, why do the witness' patents matter? The TS clearance might establish a level of integrity (or not...CIA agents lie routinely). Also, the entire paragraph is unclear as to what it means.

The CNN link only links to a comment about Traficant's toupee, not to anything substantive about the case. I suggest removing it.Mzmadmike (talk) 05:48, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Israel
Traficant is preoccupied with the Israel lobby, blaming his predicament on the controlling Jewish influence over the US government, believing omnipotent Jews put him in prison over the John Demjanjuk case among other issues. Jews are the scapegoat again. Denies he is anti-semitic. noted on his page. — Furtive admirer (talk) 04:40, 11 September 2009 (UTC) { Considering that white 'Jews' are actually Khazarian or European and only a very small percentage of those that call themselves Jews actually have Semitic blood he could say he's not anti-semetic. } (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.234.213.31 (talk)

Traficant mentions foreign aid in all forms to Israel is approximately $15 billion per year, which is about $30,000 per capita annually. Traficant notes that Delphi employees in Ohio have lost their pensions.Soledad22 (talk) 05:59, 12 September 2009 (UTC)


 * Removed this info from the article because it is uncited. It can certainly be added back in, but I could not find it in the given citations. As a controversial statement, it would need a valid citation from a reliable source to be in the article. Frank  |  talk  13:49, 12 September 2009 (UTC)


 * "foreign aid in all forms to Israel is approximately $15 billion per year, which is about $30,000 per capita annually." Wow, that's a bunch of baloney; divide $15 billion by $30,000 and you get 500,000. Last time I checked, the US population was much larger than 500,000, so there's no possible way that statement could be true. Besides, I read a while back that the actual contributions to Israel this year were on the order of $2-3 billion. Still a substantial sum, but far short of what Traficant claims they were. It's obviously a lie; we should not include that statement in the article unless we also mention that it is obviously wrong. Stonemason89 (talk) 21:17, 15 September 2009 (UTC)


 * At the time the population of Israel was about 5 million. $15 billion divided by 5 million people works out to $3,000 per capita. The $30,000 figure is obviously either a misquote or a misspeak. --Alibubba7 (talk) 23:12, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Comment
Jim Traficant is a DEMOCRAT not a REPUBLICAN! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2009 71.55.47.171 (talk • contribs) 23:23, 14 September

Detore or Defore
In the section "Indictment, conviction, testimony to House Ethics, and expulsion from Congress" Richard Detore is mentioned a number of times. But a single time Defore is mentioned (as in: ... throwing papers at" Defore for being ...). This is most likely a misprint, though I don't know. Should be corrected if it is a misprint. Mateat (talk) 22:14, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

Israel, part II
I added him to Category: Anti-Israel, due to the fact that this has been a huge part of Traficant's rhetoric, especially since his release from prison. If you disagree, feel free to state your objections here. Stonemason89 (talk) 02:51, 1 January 2010 (UTC)


 * "huge part of Traficant's rhetoric". On his radio he does not talk much about Israel or Zionism so I do not think the use of the word huge is correct.  He is positive towards Israel in the sense that he refers to Israel as a democracy.  I do not think I have heard him question the Jewish character of Israel so he does not seem to be anti Zionist, but it is not a subject he has addressed directly as far as I know.  So I do not think anti Israel or anti Zionist is correct based on his radio program and some other public appearances I have seen.Geo8rge (talk) 23:28, 14 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Anyone who has lived in NE Ohio knows this dude is an anti-Israel crusader, to the extent that he has accused Israel of planting operatives around his home. That said, the issue isn't really deserving of its own section.  It is only a small part of his all-encompassing madness.  MG196 06:30, 19 November 2010 (UTC)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mg196 (talk • contribs)


 * Stonemason89, until you can cite specific evidence that he is anti-Israel, I have removed the category listing. That shouldn't be too hard for you, since you claim it is such a huge part of his rhetoric... --Alibubba7 (talk) 23:04, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Traficant statements on Israel
Based on my recollections:


 * Positive or neutral
 * Traficant complimented the Supreme court of the State of Israel when it overturned the guilty verdict of John Demjanjuk on appeal. An independent judiciary is a requirement of democracy.  Worth noting is the Israeli supreme court has at least one Arab member Salim Joubran.
 * Traficant refers to Israel as a democracy. And I believe as a US ally.  I do not believe he challenges the Jewish Character of Israel.
 * He claims not to be antisemitic.

I am not sure what this adds up to. It would seem he does not fit the standard definitions of Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism, or anti-Israeli. Evidently there is something called New antisemitism too that may apply. Anti-Zionism is a hard one to show one way or another as the definition is more fuzzy and changed a few times after the creation of the state of Israel, see the article Anti-Zionism. FWIW in wikipedia anti-Zionism and anti-Israel are the same article. It might be worth reading the articles and seeing if Traficant fits any of the definitions well enough to label him as such.Geo8rge (talk) 17:43, 1 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Negative
 * Traficant makes various claims about organizations lobbying for Israel, specifically AIPAC, have too much power and controlling US foreign policy.
 * He claims he was targeted for his support of John Demjanjuk.
 * I searched the ADL.org site and could not find any mention of Traficant. The AIPAC site also does not mention him. So there really are no authoritative statements on Jim Traficant one way or another.Geo8rge (talk) 21:30, 4 September 2010 (UTC)

Derek Black
Apparently Traficant has appeared as a guest on the Derek Black Show; see. However, the only potential source I can see is a YouTube video, and I'm not sure whether it would be acceptable to use YouTube as a source in this situation. Stonemason89 (talk) 19:15, 16 June 2010 (UTC)
 * I don't think individual interviews that are not notable should be listed, even if the interviewer, Mr Black, is controversial.Geo8rge (talk) 21:13, 4 September 2010 (UTC)

Article photo
This isn't meant frivolously, though it could be interpreted that way. It's not, it's a serious question: Is that thing on his head a hat or a wig? I actually can't tell. If it's a hat, is it of any particular significance, as it's clearly not normal headgear? Or if it's a wig, could we perhaps find a picture that doesn't make it quite so obvious that it's not attached to his head? Or is it some sort of ceremonial wig (like judges' wigs in the UK)? Or is there just something wrong with the picture? Sorry to bring this up, but it was really distracting when I read this article. Thanks. RomanSpa (talk) 22:52, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

From what I saw when this was on TV, that's his normal hairpiece. I couldn't believe myself someone would wear something like that. Kielhofer 02:53, 25 May 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kielhofer (talk • contribs)

The picture looks like a composite of James Traficant's face and someone else's hair, collar, and shoulders. Can we replace this? I'll look around. Holy (talk) 22:27, 20 June 2017 (UTC)

James Traficant and the stolen election of 2002
Some years back I wathched a report on Democracy Now, the War and Peace Report, yadda yadda--with Amy Goodman--detailing the stealing of the 2002 presidential election for George W. Bush. According to the report, it was James Traficant--unless there has been another senator Trafficant recently?--who hired a shady software company with known ties to Chinese espionage to write the programming that flipped the votes in Florida. The man who wrote the actual programming came forward in this report, despite being in fear for his life--a journalist was murdered over this, they said. And an American presidential election stolen, and nothing done about it.

I realize that you can't add any of this to the article on Traficant unless it's substantiated. Unless you are pretty sure, and you use the word, "allegations?"

I have no idea how to research this. Anyone?

Oscar97216 (talk) 02:45, 30 July 2016 (UTC)

John O

Uh...Nobody ran for president in 2002.

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://archive.is/20130415083224/http://jta.org/news/article/2009/10/30/1008850/traficant-says-he-will-testify-for-demjanjuk to http://jta.org/news/article/2009/10/30/1008850/traficant-says-he-will-testify-for-demjanjuk
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20091010204322/http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/08/05/traficant.prison/ to http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/08/05/traficant.prison/

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Philip Taylor Kramer
It would be good to add some commentary about the Senator and his history in the aftermath of the disappearance of Iron Butterfly bassist Philip Taylor Kramer. His involvement in to the possible Congressional inquiry about the disappearance is not well known, but it should be since it was a strange side channel to the mindset of the Senator.

Traficant and his staff were informed about the mysterious disappearance of Philip Kramer whose father has National Security involvement in math and physics arenas, and Philip, as son, had gotten involved in some of the National Security concerns involving modeling of nuclear processes. Traficant called for a formal investigation in to the disappearance, stating his worry that "the Russians" might have kidnapped him after Philip and his father made some very strange public announcements.

Traficant had his office contact Fredric L. Rice after the publication of a Skeptic Magazine article covering the disappearance, doing so after a family member contacted Rice to evaluate claimed sightings which Rice rated as zero probability but which the family member wanted confirmation of being claims without merit. Traficant had read about the mailed exchanges between Rice and the family member and wanted to get more people involved on a National Security level than just the people commonly fielded for a missing person.

There is fascinating history about the events about the disappearance that would be good to get in to this article. The problem is that suitable references and citations would be difficult to provide insofar as the number of people involved in the Senator's efforts to broaden the investigation and search of Philip Kramer were few, unofficial, and many have died. Even Fredric Rice dropped out of public life after the organization he ran, "The Skeptic Tank," went defunct as staff members died and then dropped off of the Internet.

At core, both Kramers had believed that they had discovered a means of transmitting matter over a distance, a phenomena they even referred to as "Real Star Trek stuff" literally just days before Philip disappeared. Both of the Kramers honestly believed they had discovered something and both experienced sleep deprivation hypnopompic and hypnogogic hallucinatory events.

Senator Traficant may not have believed that Philip and his father had discovered a scientific breakthrough that would transform the Solar System, but he was worried that the Soviet Union at the time might have kidnapped him because of some scientific achievement, whatever it was, an achievement that made one qualified researcher with credentials mistakenly believe that he had made such a discovery.

Problem is, nearly everyone involved have died off over the decades, there are no official records that I have ever heard of that survived the Senator's interest in the disappearance, and that's a damn shame, it is a fascinating side note to the Senator's career. SoftwareThing (talk) 03:40, 20 August 2022 (UTC)