James A. Traficant Jr., a self-described “junkyard dog” of a politician who became only the second person to be expelled by Congress since the Civil War, died Saturday. He was 73.
Traficant succumbed to injuries sustained Tuesday when a vintage tractor he was putting away in a garage at his farm outside of Youngstown, Ohio, flipped over on him, said his wife, Trish Traficant. He died in a hospice facility in Poland, Ohio, near Youngstown.
“We don’t know what happened yet,” she told the Los Angeles Times, regarding the accident. “He didn’t have a heart attack or anything like that.”
In July 2002, Congress voted overwhelmingly to expel Traficant, a nine-term Democrat, after he was found guilty of taking kickbacks from staff members and pocketing bribes in return for political favors.
A week later, Traficant was sentenced to eight years in prison. At the time, he vowed to run again and asked the judge to incarcerate him in a facility in Ohio, so that he could remain eligible.