( CNN ) -- James Traficant Jr. , who railed against government agencies while serving as a wild-haired , maverick congressman from Ohio , died Saturday after being critically injured in a tractor accident on his farm . Traficant was 73 . Family attorney Heidi Hanni told CNN that Traficant passed away at 11:30 a.m . He 'd been riding a small 1943 tractor on Tuesday at his farm in Greenford , Ohio , when he lost control , causing the tractor to roll over him , local police said . He died at St. Elizabeth Health Center , the Youngstown Vindicator reported . Traficant was a Democrat who represented Ohio 's 17th Congressional District from 1985 to 2002 . With a penchant for colorful , sometimes crude language , Traficant made a name for himself in Washington long before being convicted on federal corruption charges , a courtroom defeat that led to his expulsion from Congress because of ethics violations tied to it . `` There are no ethics in politics , '' he declared at his ethics hearing . `` And there should be no ethics committee . It is dog eat dog . Castrate your opponent . '' Such comments made him a favorite of reporters in Washington , where he was willing to offer his opinion on just about any topic . 'Beam me up ! ' He was equally famous in Washington for his hair . The Washington Post obit noted : `` Reporters outdid themselves in trying to describe Mr. Traficant 's pompadour -- and to determine whether it was real . In the words of the Los Angeles Times , it was a 'Planet of the Apes sort of hair helmet , ' or as Washingtonian magazine put it , ' a creature from Lake Erie before it was cleaned up . ' '' But it turned out Traficant wore a toupee . This was discovered in 2002 when he was booked into a jail in Akron , Ohio , before being sent to federal prison , and authorities searched for `` contraband or weapons , '' according to a CNN story . A jail official said it was a small hairpiece and did n't fully cover Traficant 's head . Traficant made flamboyant and animated House speeches , which often ended with his trademark , `` Beam me up ! '' A former football player at the University of Pittsburgh , Traficant went on to play the role of hometown hero after graduation , serving as a drug counselor and Mahoning County , Ohio , sheriff . While sheriff , Traficant was tried on bribery charges in 1983 . Acting as his own lawyer , he persuaded a jury to acquit him , saying he was conducting his own sting operation . He was elected to Congress in 1984 . In Washington , he barreled through the House in rumpled sports coats and loud shirts . Traficant fashioned himself as a maverick populist , spending much of his career railing against foreign aid and various government agencies , including the Internal Revenue Service and the CIA . `` Lying , thieving , stealing nincompoops '' is how he once described the latter . Convicted of bribery charges . In April 2002 , Traficant was convicted on 10 charges of bribery , racketeering and tax evasion . Although not a lawyer , Traficant again represented himself . He was expelled from the House later that year by a 420-1 vote , becoming only the second congressman expelled since the Civil War . He took up painting as a hobby while he served his sentence from 2002 to 2009 . Months after his release from prison , Traficant filed for office as an independent but lost his bid to regain his old seat to sitting Rep. Tim Ryan , a Democrat . A few days before his expulsion from Congress , Traficant told CNN , `` I 'm a son of a truck driver . Forget this Congress business , I 'm a regular guy . '' People we 've lost in 2014 . Parts of this story came from a 2002 CNN profile of James Traficant Jr .
Former Ohio Rep. James Traficant dies at 73 . He had been in critical condition following a farm accident . Traficant was known for his hair and ending speeches with `` Beam me up ! '' He was expelled from Congress after being convicted of bribery .