If he runs for Congress, I'll leave the state

I posted this 6 months ago when he first started talking about it. I repost it today because it still feels the same way:

In what can best be described as a giant step backward for mankind, Jim Traficant has announced a major press conference for Thursday morning. As reported in the Vindicator, “He’ll be talking about Congress,” said Dennis Malloy, Traficant’s communications director. It pains me to think that Traficant may run for Congress, representing either the 17th or 6th congressional districts and speaking for the people of the Mahoning Valley.

And really, a crook representing the Mahoning Valley in any government seat? Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. When Traficant got tossed from Congress and went to jail, we had just finished putting a county commissioner, a couple of judges, a sheriff and the county engineer away for corruption. The mid and late 1990's were about cleaning house in Youngstown. The 2000's have been about rebuilding that house.

What Jim Traficant can't understand is that we've moved past Jim Traficant. The Youngstown he left isn't the Youngstown to which he returned. While there are some people stuck in the past who would love to see him in office, most of the rational people in Youngstown see the damage he has done to our image and our city. There is substantive and positive change occurring in the Youngstown area. An entirely new model of urban renewal has been created around Youngstown's 'shrinking city' concept. People are moving back to Youngstown, dollars are turning some shovels, and there is significant hope being instilled in a lot of people who call Youngstown home. A 'Traficant for (insert political office here)' sign in people's front yards can destroy much of that in an instant.