| Michael Ozzie Myers | |
|---|---|
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 1st district |
|
| In office November 2, 1976 – October 2, 1980 |
|
| Preceded by | William A. Barrett |
| Succeeded by | Thomas M. Foglietta |
| Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 184th district |
|
| In office January 5, 1971 – November 2, 1976 |
|
| Preceded by | Leland Beloff |
| Succeeded by | Leland Beloff |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Democratic |
Michael Joseph "Ozzie" Myers (born May 4, 1943) is a politician from the American state of Pennsylvania.
He was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.[1] Myers, a Democrat, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976. Myers had previously been a longshoreman. He was regarded as a "maverick" from the very beginning of his tenure in office. For example, in 1979 he got into a fistfight with a waiter in Washington, D.C., whom he felt wasn't showing proper respect for a member of Congress.
Myers is known most for being involved in the Abscam scandal in 1980. Myers was videotaped accepting a bribe of $50,000 from undercover FBI agents on August 22, 1979.[2] Myers stated on that tape "money talks and bullshit walks." Myers was expelled from the House of Representatives on October 2, 1980, by a vote of 376 to 30, becoming the first member of the House to be expelled since 1861; the next to suffer this fate was Democrat Jim Traficant in 2002. Myers was defeated by Thomas M. Foglietta in the 1980 election. Myers was sentenced to three years in prison in 1981.