Political Vice and Political Voice

    When I received the link for the fundraising campaign for Traficant: The Congressman of Crimetown, a documentary chronicling the rise and fall of the Mahoning Valley's most recognizable political force, I was skeptical. As the Mahoning Valley works to change and rebrand itself, it might be better to let his tenure in Congress slip into oblivion. Traficant was coarse; he was tactless; and he was rude. Without a doubt, he took money from the mob and his affiliation with Lenny Strollo is not beyond reproach. His eventual conviction included charges of bribery, racketeering, and tax evasion. Whether he was unjustly targeted or not, he made the bed in which he would lay. However, I argue that even if Traficant and vice are synonymous that it was the voice that he gave the Mahoning Valley that mattered, whether a person was from his district or from another state. His ability to connect with the people as a stakeholder and to care about their plight and struggle made him different. He could empathize.

    The 2001 Congressional redistricting broke up Traficant's home field advantage. It split Trumbull County in half. It sent the northern tier of the county into the then new Ohio-14th Congressional District. It preserved the political/population center of the county (Warren-Niles-Cortland) as part of the new 17th District. While this may seem irrelevant, it had two major consequences. First, it accentuated the division between county and township government. The commissioners’ power base has and will remain in the South rather than the agrarian North of the county. It is difficult to have a voice and an ally in county government without impacting elections and generating revenues.  Second, it placed the northern tier of Trumbull County within the 14th Congressional District, whose power base lies in Chardon-Hudson-Mentor-Eastlake, four places that could not be more dissimilar from the northern tier in terms of socio-economic make-up and production. Thus, the redistricting isolated the Northern Tier of Trumbull County and silenced what little voice it ever had.

    What are the consequences of this division? My small town of Kinsman, Ohio, is under an EPA deadline to install sewers by 2013. Currently, small businesses are already under the threat of fine and are installing new septic tanks to avoid the death-sentence-like fines that are on their way. Ironically, a waste-treatment facility exists (an old Kraft plant, abandoned in the early 2000's) and a trunk line is already heading into town, but the project is frozen. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 should have been a god-send. The project was certainly "shovel-ready," but inaction and delays by the county and invisible representation in Congress subjugated Kinsman to the back burner. Kinsman is set to receive second-hand funding (the unused funds from projects elsewhere, which may or may not exist). As an anecdote, I attended a county meeting on sewers in Kinsman in Warren last April. I think the make-up of the meeting is telling. The following individuals attended the meeting:
     1 of 3 County Commissioners (Frank Fuda)
     1 Representative from the Office of Tim Ryan (OH-17th)
     0 Representatives from the Office of Steven LaTourette (OH-14th)
     1 Businessman/Farmer from Kinsman
     1 of 3 Trustees from Kinsman 
     1 Kinsman Township Clerk
     2 Representatives from the Ohio Department of Agriculture 

   First, the attendance of the commissioners was wanting. In terms of prioritization, it was clear that Kinsman had little relevance for the other two commissioners. One commissioner entered the County building as we departed. He had forgotten the meeting and Kinsman. Tim Ryan's office offered as much support as it could, but in the end, the representative said that Steven LaTourette’s office would need to take the lead (Of note: LaTourette voted against the stimulus package which would fund the project and staunchly opposes the use of federal earmarks for such infrastructure projects). Her words meant that Kinsman would not receive help on the congressional level. The lack of attendance by anyone from our own Congressman's office sent another signal: Your revenue generation is too small; your political contributions are too small; and your population is too small to provide me with the votes I need. My time and resources are better spent elsewhere. In terms of the township, the board of trustees was only informed second-hand that a meeting would actually occur. The Trustee in attendance was my mother, who took a day off from school in order to attend. The local businessman and farmer receives attention as a consequence of his affluence and centrality in terms of land-holdings in the Northern tier. The representatives from the Ohio Department of Agriculture were there to offer funding, which may or may not exist, but it is important to note that the lobbyist for this funding was a native-son of Gustavus, the neighboring township. He did not fail to remember where he came from or the people that made his success possible. Attendance does matter as it sends signals about the interests of key political and economic players.

    The connection between Traficant and this series of events should be quite evident. I come from a place without a voice. Jim Traficant, love or hate, provided a voice. I wish my town, my area, could have someone as dynamic and connected to real people and their struggles as Traficant once was. I would prefer that they told the truth, provided fair representation, built goodwill and trust across the diverse political and socio-economic spectrum, and worked to benefit everyone that they supposedly represent. Is it too much to ask that someone represents the interest of the little town, a town with per family income of $28,000 per year in its proposed sewer district? I think someone like Jim Traficant would. Perhaps that is why as we come to terms with the vice of the past, we should examine his impact more carefully and think of the voice which our area requires. As the redistricting from the 2010 Census is revealed, let us think of the consequences and the real impact that it has on people not just politics.

The 1991-2001 Congressional Map of Ohio (A County Together):

The 2001-2011 Ohio 17th Congressional District (A County Divided):

The  2001-2011 Ohio 14th Congressional District (A County Divided):