I promised this piece some time ago, and what better day to present this than on Memorial Day?

“The trouble with politics is that not enough people are involved.”

Jim was a quarterback with an impressive record.

He later became a sheriff in Youngstown, Ohio, where he contends that the local mobsters were in collusion with the FBI. Due to his contention, he was indicted, a case he beat.

Jim's parents hail from a rich heritage – Italy, Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. He contends that any immigration reform currently taking place is ineffective, and illegals should not be given anything a true American citizen doesn't possess.

The reason Jim Traficant went to jail is an interesting issue in and of itself.

He ruffled the feathers of everyone involved in the first murder trial of John Demjamjuk, who at the time was accused of being “Ivan the Terrible”, a figure of terror. Jim eventually discovered that there was a person who had already been determined to be the person in question, an Ivan Marchenko. Why was Demjamjuk being set up as this individual, and why wasn't there an effort put forth to ensure that an innocent person wasn't being put to death?

Jim saved his life, and proved the entire case to be a falsehood. This would be the beginning of his troubles.

In a conversation with Bryant Gumbel, Jim asserted that if Demjamjuk was put to death, Israel would stand to lose $25 billion a year. Gumbel stated that they only received $3 billion annually; Traficant countered that he was only considering one bill.

During his time in jail, he met with John Gotti, Jr., who advised him not to take any medication offered to him. Not long after this warning, it was determined that Traficant had a “corkscrew aorta”, for which they would need to prescribe medication. He emphatically refused, and the next day was sent to an adjacent facility.

Jim was recently released from jail, where he served 7 ½ years. It still isn't clear to me as to why he was sent to jail. An “investigation” that took 6 years, $15 million of taxpayers' monies, over 260 agents involved, and yet, not one tape recording.

Traficant introduced an amendment that changed the burden of proof in regards to the IRS in 1998, when other reforms were taking place.

In twelve months:

Wage garnishment – from 3,500,000 to 360,000

Property liens – from 670,000 to 160,000

Individual seizure of family homes – from 10,073 to 57 homes in all 50 states

That's what I call service above and beyond for We The People.

Upon his release from prison, he went on a number of interviews, most notably with Greta Van Susteran and Sean Hannity. He has yet to make a final determination in regards to a return to Congress.

Jim's book, America's Last Minuteman, is soon to be released. He also has a film being produced called Traficant: The Congressman of Crimetown.