The Year in Review—April

The Nation | Top news stories for April, 2002 | Bob Jones

Traficant jam

For Jim Traficant, the eccentric, controversial Ohio congressman, April 11 was the beginning of the end of an 18-year career in Washington. A Cleveland jury found him guilty on 10 counts of racketeering and corruption, including charges that he had taken bribes from businessmen and extorted kickbacks from his own staff.

The maverick Democrat insisted he was the innocent victim of a government vendetta, but neither the jury nor his House colleagues bought that argument. Three months after the verdict, the House voted 420-1 to expel Mr. Traficant from the chamber, with disgraced Rep. Gary Condit of California casting the only dissenting vote. The Traficant case marked only the second time since the Civil War that a sitting House member was stripped of his office.