Cleveland Taco Week returns on Monday, April 10th!

ANOTHER ROGUE IN WTAM'S GALLERY

By Frank Lewis on Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 11:02 am

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After seven years in federal prison, and four months on the job market, ex-congressman Jim Traficant debuted a WTAM talk show host on Saturday. In a press release, Program Director Ray Davis said, “I am all about giving people a second chance in life.” Scene had planned on asking him if he was comfortable having that kind of guy around, but WTAM didn’t return our call or e-mail.

Traficant, a 17th District Democrat with conservative tendencies, was well known for a bad hairpiece and skinny neckties (and not as a new-wave fashion). He was popular and brilliant: In 1983, he successfully served as his own counsel and beat a RICO rap. The feds came back at him in 2002, and the Rep was convicted of pocketing campaign funds and sent away for bribery, racketeering, and tax evasion He was also accused of forcing aides to work on his farm and house boat. (If the station had talked to us, we planned on asking if he’d have access to interns.) — D.X. Ferris