On March 14, 2000, Representative Jim Traficant (D-OH) stood on the floor in the House of Representatives and said, “I want to yield back the gutless wonders of the United States International Trade Commission and the Clinton-Gore administration that appointed them.” The Ohio Congressman has a knack for telling it like it is. But that is not what got him in trouble.
Traficant doesn’t pull any punches. And neither did the elite global establishment in its persecution of the eight-term Congressman. Can anyone honestly claim he would have been prosecuted and expelled from Congress if he didn’t stand as the only opposition to selling out our jobs, and our sovereignty? Traficant believed he was the target of a vendetta by the Clinton Administration for his brazen attacks on the most corrupt President and Attorney General in history.
It’s easy to see why he would think that. During the heat of the presidential election in 2000, while other Democrats were circling wagons around the Clinton-Gore administration in hopes of keeping the White House, Traficant was blasting the leader of his party with no regard for personal consequences. Here’s a sample of the famous closing statements from Traficant early in 2000.
– “I yield back the fact that Wal-Mart now owns, owns and sells 14 brands of shoes, and they are all made in China.” 2/01/00
– “I yield back the lack of oversight on the Justice Department of the United States.” 3/23/00
– “I yield back the crimes of the FBI at Waco, Texas, and Ruby Ridge, Idaho.” 2/29/00
– “I yield back the millions of audits and gouging of the American taxpayers.” 3/08/00
– “I yield back all the sex, drugs, and murder on television.” 3/09/00
– “I yield back the failed national drug strategy that we have in effect.” 3/16/00
– “Mr. Speaker, I yield back the corruption in the Justice Department.” 3/21/00
– “I yield back the fact that these overburdening regulations in America are killing American jobs and forcing American companies to move overseas.” 3/22/00
– “I yield back the manipulations of both American citizens and our great Constitution by the Census Bureau.” 3/28/00
But what James A. Traficant, Jr. either realizes and never talks about, or doesn’t realize, is that the enemy he made for himself was not just the Clinton Administration. During the speech he concluded by yielding back the “gutless wonders” of the U.S. Trade representative and the Clinton-Gore administration, Traficant made a stand for a dying steel company in his district, Bliss Manufacturing.
“Mr. Speaker, Bliss Manufacturing in my district makes bumpers for General Motors. Not any more. Bliss bankrupted yesterday, putting 500 of my workers on the street due to two reasons: number one, the continuing flood of illegal steel imports; and number two, after a recent decision by the United States International Trade Commission that ruled in favor of Japan, Russia, Brazil, and Korea.” Such was the principled stand that Traficant made for people he represented.
But what James Traficant didn’t say, is that steel imports being promoted by the U.S. Trade Commission were part of an effort to move America’s manufacturing sector overseas. Labor is cheap overseas, and low-wage or no-wage workers making raw steel would mean larger profit margins for companies that sell products made of steel. These include General Electric, General Motors, and every other supplier of cars or appliances.
Jim Traficant had the “misfortune” of representing a district whose economy was based on production of steel. Ohio’s Mahoning Valley was established on early 20th century mills that produced the metal upon which our industrial revolution was built. And James Traficant believed in representing his constituents. Throughout the 80s and 90s, his district was getting the imported steel shaft.
Traficant blamed his downfall on persecution by Janet Reno’s Justice Department. And he was right that it was Reno’s people who set him up and knocked him down. But his nemesis is far bigger than a former Attorney General, running a soon-to-be-failed campaign for the Florida Governor’s office.
By going after the U.S. Trade Representative, Traficant attacked the agent of multinational corporations, who needed support from the U.S. Government in their effort to exploit cheap foreign labor. Even if he didn’t know it, James Traficant had picked a fight with the biggest dog on the block.
Traficant is a tough cookie and he fought back. His March 28, 2000 proposal to create an independent federal agency that would investigate allegations of corruption on the part of Justice Department personnel was a counter-punch. But he was throwing punches at the wrong enemy.
Janet Reno left Washington in 2001. The global attack dog was still biting Traficant. He was expelled from Congress on July 25, 2002 by a vote of 420 to one, with 8 abstaining. It’s notable that the only one to vote against removing James Traficant was Gary Condit.
Clinton’s Justice Department was a means to an end. The charges they laid out against Traficant were dubious. And it is certainly questionable as to whether Traficant ever got a fair trial. He may, after all, be vindicated in appellant court. But if he is to defeat the forces against him, he must identify what and who they are.
Traficant can’t win by fighting a phantom vendetta.
Jim Traficant was ruined because he wouldn’t yield to a global establishment program of selling out American jobs. Any member of Congress who didn’t vote to expel him could well face the same retribution. That is why Republicans, who had no loyalty to Reno’s Justice Department, voted to remove him.
And that’s why Gary Condit voted against it. Condit is already ruined, free to vote his conscience without yielding, such as that may be.
“Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact.”