Move To Expel Traficant

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner said Tuesday he was introducing a resolution calling for Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. to be expelled from the U.S. House if the Ohio congressman does not resign.

Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., said, "Felons belong in jail and not in Congress."

Traficant, a nine-term congressman, was convicted last week in federal court in Cleveland on 10 counts of racketeering, bribery, kickbacks and fraud.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of 63 years in jail, though under federal sentencing guidelines, Traficant is likely to get a much lighter sentence. Sentencing was scheduled for June 27.

"He has broken our public trust by breaking the law and if he will not voluntarily leave this House, our duty is to remove him," Sensenbrenner said on the House floor.

Traficant, D-Ohio, has said he will not resign and will appeal the jury's decision and run for re-election as an independent.

House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt has already called for Traficant to resign, and the House Ethics Committee has announced that it will meet to consider disciplinary action against Traficant.

Expulsion requires the approval of two-thirds of the 435-member House and has happened to only one congressman since the Civil War. In 1980, Rep. Michael Myers, D-Pa., was expelled for accepting money from undercover FBI agents posing as Arab sheiks seeking favors from Congress.

Sensenbrenner was a member of the House ethics committee when Myers was expelled. He introduced a resolution calling for former Rep. Walter Tucker III, D-Calif., to be expelled after Tucker was convicted in 1995 of accepting and demanding bribes while mayor of a Los Angeles suburb. Tucker resigned from Congress a week later.

Sensenbrenner said a motion to expel Traficant is necessary because he "foolishly" rejected Gephardt's call for him to resign.

On Monday, the House ethics committee warned Traficant "in the strongest possible terms" not to vote on the House floor while lawmakers review his recent conviction on racketeering and other charges.

In a letter, the committee told Traficant he risks action by the full House if he tries to vote.