CANFIELD - Convicted felon and former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant all but said Thursday morning he would be making a political comeback.
In usual Traficant style - by way of attire and manner - the 68-year-old alluded to what many in Trumbull and Mahoning counties have been wondering since his prison release: Is he bold enough and does he have the support to run for office?
Part of that question should be answered relatively soon.
Traficant said at a news conference in Canfield that he has authorized longtime friend and former aide Linda Kovalchik to circulate petitions in three congressional districts to determine what level of public support is there for a return to politics.
''I will assess what support exists for me,'' Traficant said, adding a determination for a return would be made in January.
He did not say which districts, flippantly answering a reporter's question, ''As far as you know, it might be Pennsylvania.''
Nor did he say whether he would run as an independent, Democratic or Republican candidate.
Logically, however, the districts that would be in Traficant's aim are the 6th, represented now by Charlie Wilson, D-St. Clairsville; 16th, represented by John Boccieri, D-Alliance; and the 17th, represented by Timothy J. Ryan, D-Niles.
Traficant lives in Wilson's district.
Thursday's event was Traficant's first real interaction with local media. Since his September release from a Rochester, Minn., federal lockup, he has ignored the local media, but has made multiple appearances on national television shows, including ''On The Record With Greta Van Susteren.''
He's also made many appearances in the Trumbull and Mahoning counties, mostly at TEA - ''Taxed Enough Already'' - parties. At those, Traficant continued his proposals to disassemble the Internal Revenue Service and repeal the U.S. Constitution's 16th Amendment in favor of a 25 percent flat retail sales tax.
Despite that, Traficant says he's getting support in the community. In fact, Traficant said he's been contacted by a group wanting him to be an independent presidential candidate.
''I said, ''You must be smoking dope','' Traficant said.
For those who don't want him in office, Traficant said, ''They will vote no, I am sure of that. They will loud and vociferous.''
The federal jury believed that he took kickbacks from high-level staffers, used other staff members as farmhands on work time and accepted cash gifts and services from businessmen. He later was removed from the U.S. House of Representatives by a 420-1 vote.
Traficant claimed he was innocent and a target of the government, claims he made even during his sentencing, before he was cuffed and led away to the Allenwood Federal Correctional Complex in White Deer, Pa., where he spent the first part of nearly a decade in prison.
He continued to assert that Thursday.
