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Traficant to Face House Vote Today

Aired July 24, 2002 - 13:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The hour of truth is nearing for representative James Traficant. The House is scheduled to vote tonight on expelling the volatile Democrat for corruption. Traficant is expected to come out swinging, though.
CNN's Kate Snow brings us the latest from Capitol Hill. It is hard to define swinging, Kate, with this man.

KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We always knew, Kyra, that he wasn't going to go quietly, and now it looks like he may even be getting a helping hand from one of his long-time friends. Fellow congressman Steve LaTourette of Ohio tells me that he plans to offer a motion later tonight to defer this whole thing, to delay the vote until after the Congressional recess in August.

LaTourette is making a point that some in Ohio are making which is that a juror came out over this past weekend and raised some concerns, a juror who had voted to convict Traficant said, Well, if I had known all I know now, I might have changed my mind. That is making some people say that perhaps they should let things play out a little more before the House takes this action against Traficant.

That said, House leaders, both Republicans and Democrats, do plan to push ahead with this vote tonight, as one Democratic aide said to me, this is a convicted felon that we're talking about. The majority leader has said that he believes that Traficant will be expelled, but not without a big speech first. He will be given a half hour on the House floor, Kyra. He may ask for even more. A spokesman says he will talk about the government's case and flaws. He will insist, of course, that he is not guilty, just as he did with Connie Chung in an interview last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

I want to start with the charges against you. There are 10 federal charges. I'd like to go through each one and have you respond.

First, racketeering: guilty or innocent?

REP. JAMES TRAFICANT (D), OHIO: Innocent.

CHUNG: Obstruction of justice: guilty or innocent?

TRAFICANT: Innocent.

CHUNG: Conspiracy to defraud the United States government: guilty or innocent?

TRAFICANT: Absolutely ridiculous. Innocent.

CHUNG: Seeking and receiving illegal gratuities?

TRAFICANT: Absolutely ridiculous. Innocent.

CHUNG: Filing false tax returns?

TRAFICANT: Beam me up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: That, of course, is his trademark phrase. We've been talking to people out in Youngstown, Ohio, Kyra. I can tell you, this is not, of course, a scientific poll by any means, but talking to people on the street there, most of them, the majority, very supportive of Jim Traficant. One of them saying to us, We voted him in, we should be the ones who vote him out.

More on that next hour. Kyra, one last thing you asked me whether he could run for Congress from his jail cell, and indeed, we checked again. Ohio state law would allow him to run from prison, but one little note on that. If he is sent to prison outside the state, a federal prison elsewhere, outside of Ohio, then he is not technically a resident of Ohio anymore. And one political scientist in Ohio telling us that could cause some problems. He might not be able to run if he's sent to federal prison elsewhere -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And he might run in that other area. That could be very interesting.

SNOW: You never know.

PHILLIPS: Kate Snow. All right. Thank you.

Well, joining us now to talk more about this, a man who had the entertaining job of covering Congressman Traficant for two decades. Bertram DeSouza is a currently a columnist for "The Vindicator," the paper in Traficant's district. He joins us from Youngstown, Ohio -- good to see you, sir.

BERTRAM DESOUZA, COLUMNIST, "THE VINDICATOR": How are you doing?

PHILLIPS: So, is he quite a colorful character? Was it fun covering this man or was it a bit stressful?

DESOUZA: He's been that way for two decades. I make the comment that when I first started covering him, I had black hair, and now it has all turned white. It has been stressful, but it has also been a lot of fun.

PHILLIPS: Speaking of hair, you have very nice hair. Have you ever talked to him about his hair, by chance?

DESOUZA: He keeps his hair the way it is intentionally because of people like us who keep talking about it all the time.

PHILLIPS: Has it ever moved? I'm just wondering.

DESOUZA: It does. In fact -- and when it does move, he won't straighten it out, which is also interesting to watch.

PHILLIPS: I can imagine. All right. Well, let's talk about Traficant. Does he still have the support of his constituency?

DESOUZA: Well, if you recall at the hearing last week, he won the ethics panel, and telling them that, you know, even if they recommend expulsion, he might still be able to win the election in November, and would hold office from a jail cell.

And I dismissed that, as a lot of reporters, but since coming back to the district and since talking to people, you know, I would not put it beyond the voters of this district, of this region, to actually vote for Jim Traficant just to send a message that they do believe him when he says he has been railroaded.

PHILLIPS: What is it about him that they love so much? Why do they believe in him so much?

DESOUZA: First of all, as everyone has noted, it's the way he dresses, the way he speaks, the way he wears his hair. There's nothing flashy about him. People from this area look at him and they see themselves in Jim Traficant. A lot of them hear what he says, and share his opinion, and indeed he has established himself as a champion of the people, a champion of the downtrodden, and that message does resonate in a region like ours which is a very blue-collar, high unemployment area.

PHILLIPS: Do you think he's crazy?

DESOUZA: No, he's not. I mean, he is crazy like a fox. He has -- he has used his persona to not only win politically in the region, but also to gain national attention. Look what is happening. Yesterday, I did a radio talk show with a radio station in California, outside San Francisco, and it was uncanny to be talking about a Congressman from Ohio, and there were calls from people who seemed to know more about him and what he believes in that a lot of reporters who have covered him.

PHILLIPS: Tell us about his family. What is his family like, how are they responding to all of this?

DESOUZA: Very early on, and I covered him when he first ran for office, very early on he made it clear that his family had nothing to do with his politics, his political life, and he kept them away.

The only time you see his wife and his child, his daughter, was when -- the night of the election when he would win, and they would come for the victory celebration, after which he would -- they would go off and live their own lives. They have never been part of it. He has never needed any kind of a family prop like other politicians do in order to show himself as -- as having some merit as a politician. And indeed, the voters of the Mahoning Valley have never expected Jim Traficant to embrace a family or talk about how great his family has been in supporting him, and I think that has been a trademark of Jim Traficant's.

PHILLIPS: All right. Bertram DeSouza, "The Vindicator." I look forward to your next column.

DESOUZA: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Thank you.

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