Michael Joseph "Ozzie" Myers (born May 4, 1943) is an American politician who served in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from 1976 to 1980. A member of the Democratic Party, Myers became involved in the

Abscam Abscam (sometimes written ABSCAM) was an FBI sting operation in the late 1970s and early 1980s that led to the convictions of seven members of the United States Congress, among others, for bribery and corruption. The two-year investigation init ...

scandal during his tenure in Congress and was later expelled from the House of Representatives after being caught taking bribes in an

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

sting operation. He spent three years in federal prison. In 2020, he was accused of stuffing ballot boxes in Philadelphia elections during the 2010s, and charged with election fraud. He pled guilty in 2022, and was sentenced to years in federal prison.

Early life

Michael Joseph Myers was born on May 4, 1943, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. In 1963, Myers was arrested for burglary, but was later acquitted.

Career

State legislature

In December 1970, Michael Joseph Sullivan, his cousin who later served as an election judge while incarcerated, killed a construction worker during a union dispute. It was revealed in 1974 by ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'' that Myers was in possession of the gun used while he himself was lobbying against Philadelphia's gun registration law. In August 1975 the state House voted 176 to 1 in favor of removing Representative Leonard Sweeney after he was sentenced to three years in prison for his involvement in a phony accident organization with Myers as the only nay. In 1975, the state legislature was voting on an appropriations bill to allocate $23 million for Philadelphia's

United States Bicentennial The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic. It was a central event ...

celebrations, but was defeated on October 15. The bill was brought up for another vote by Myers who was told by Appropriations Committee Chairman

Stephen Wojdak Stephen Richard Wojdak (December 15, 1938 – June 2, 2015) was an American politician who was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and a prominent lobbyist in Pennsylvania, where he was the President and CEO of S. R. Wojd ...

to send it back to the Appropriations Committee, but Myers stated that the bill had enough support to pass and put it up for a vote. The bill was defeated with 107 to 88 voting to reject it.

House of Representatives

On July 2, 1976, he was given the Democratic nomination to run in the special election to fill the first congressional district seat following William A. Barrett's death. In 1979 Representative

Ronald M. Mottl Ronald Milton Mottl (born February 6, 1934) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a Democratic member of the state House of Representatives of Ohio from 1987 to 1997. Before that, he served four terms in the United States House of ...

proposed a constitutional amendment that would ban forced busing and Myers supported the amendment. 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 Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

, punching and kicking them. Myers became combative after they told him to turn down the music at a party he was having in the motel, shouting, "I'm a congressman: we don't have to be quiet." He was subsequently charged with assault and battery, and eventually pleaded no contest to a charge of

disorderly conduct Disorderly conduct is a crime in most jurisdictions in the United States, the People's Republic of China, and Taiwan. Typically, "disorderly conduct" makes it a crime to be drunk in public, to " disturb the peace", or to loiter in certain are ...

three months later. He received a six-month suspended sentence. Myers was involved in the

scandal. He was videotaped accepting a bribe of $50,000 from undercover

agents on August 22, 1979. On that tape, Myers is recorded saying that "money talks in this business 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. Myers was defeated by

Thomas M. Foglietta Thomas Michael Foglietta (December 3, 1928 – November 13, 2004) was an American politician and diplomat. He represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives, House of Representatives from 1981 to 1997, and later served as United St ...

(D) in the 1980 election. Myers was then convicted of bribery and conspiracy and sentenced to three years in prison in 1981.

Later life

After release, Myers started his own political consulting firm. Myers was accused of conspiring to violate voting rights by fraudulently stuffing the ballot boxes for specific candidates in the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 elections. He was charged on July 21, 2020 with bribery of an election official, falsification of records, voting more than once in federal elections, and obstruction of justice. The charges included conspiring with and bribing Domenick J. Demuro, the former Judge of Elections for the 39th Ward, 36th Division. Demuro pleaded guilty in May 2020 in federal court in Philadelphia that he was responsible for overseeing the entire election process and all voter activities of his division in accordance with federal and state election laws. On June 6, 2022, Myers pled guilty to those new charges. On September 27, 2022, he was sentenced to years in federal prison by Judge Paul S. Diamond.

Electoral history

References

External links

Pennsylvania House of Representatives pageFormer Congressman Charged with Ballot Stuffing, Bribery, and Obstruction
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Myers, Michael 1943 births 21st-century American criminals 20th-century American politicians Abscam American people convicted of assault American politicians convicted of fraud Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Expelled members of the United States House of Representatives Living people Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Pennsylvania politicians convicted of crimes Politicians convicted of bribery under 18 U.S.C. § 201 Politicians convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States Politicians convicted under the Travel Act Politicians from Philadelphia