Michael Myers (politician)

Michael 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 Barrett
Succeeded by Tom 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
Born Michael Joseph Myers
May 4, 1943
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Political party Democratic

Michael Joseph "Ozzie" Myers (born May 4, 1943) is a politician from Philadelphia.

Myers 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.[2] He was regarded as a "maverick" from the very beginning of his tenure in office. For example, in 1979 he got into a fight with a security guard and a 19-year-old female cashier in an elevator leading from the rooftop lounge of a Quality Inn motel in Arlington, Virginia, punching and kicking them, after he got angry at them after they told him to turn down the music at a party he was having in the motel, and was subsequently charged with assault and battery.[3] He eventually plead no contest to a charge of disorderly conduct three months later, and received a six-month suspended sentence.[4]

Myers is best known for his involvement in the Abscam scandal in 1980. Myers was videotaped accepting a bribe of $50,000 from undercover FBI agents on August 22, 1979.[5] On that tape, Myers is recorded saying that "money talks and bullshit walks."[6] 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 convicted of bribery and conspiracy and sentenced to three years in prison in 1981.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Cox, Harold. "House Members M". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.
  2. ↑ Michael J. Myers at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
  3. ↑ "Congressman charged after incident in lounge". Register-Guard. January 18, 1979. p. 3A.
  4. ↑ "Rep. Myers gets suspended sentence". The Free Lance-Star. April 11, 1979. p. 2.
  5. ↑ "United States v. Myers, et al., 692 F.2d 823". Duffygreen.com.
  6. ↑ Charles E. Bennett (September 24, 1980). In the Matter of Representative Michael J. Myers, House Report 96-1387 (PDF). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
  7. ↑ Greenhouse, Linda (June 1, 1983). "JUSTCES REFUSE TO HEAR APPEALS IN 7 ABSCAM CASES". New York Times. Retrieved April 4, 2014.

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