There’s a new entry in the Clean Up Parliament campaign.
In fact it’s old, but keeping track of all those who have been convicted of crimes who are sitting in Parliament isn’t easy.
He’s called Rocco Salini.
Marco Travaglio gave a description of him in a piece in BANANAS in l’Unità last September and he sent it to me.

People are always asking me who to vote for.
Instead I’d like to suggest who not to vote for:
all those parties with their electoral list containing the name of anyone who has been convicted of a crime.

You know the names of those in the list.

Salini & tobacco of Marco Travaglio

” … Because perhaps not everyone knows who is his latest acquisition (Mastella – editor’s note).
Rocco Salini da Teramo was the president DC of the regional authorities of Abruzzo, arrested all toghether (the president plus 10 councillors) in 1992 for a slipshod use of 450,000,000,000 of European funds. The councillors were found not guilty of “abuse of Office” actually because it was partially depenalised in the meantime.
But the president Salini no: he had also ideological falsehoods, and they had forgotten to depenalised that, thus he was convicted by the Court of Cassation and sentenced to one year and 4 months. Now, since the law forbids those who have been convicted from being a politician at the level of town, provincial or regional government, he had a brilliant idea: become a member of Parliament (the law, made by parliamentarians, does not forbid convicted people from becoming parliamentarians).

He turned to Forza Italia and he got the results required.

In 2001 the convict Salini entered triumphally into Montecitorio with his beautiful pale blue gown. But who trusts their friends: his name wasn’t included in the list of Ministers, and not even in the wider list of undersecretaries. A place in the subgovernment? Nope.

Only a miserable presidency of the committee of inquiry into depleted uranium, and he stepped down from that in disgust almost immediately. Loosing patience after an unnerving wait, he formed his own list: Terzo Polo, for the regional elections in Abruzzo. Against the left and against the right.
Bellachioma, alarmed by the Forza Italia supporters in Abruzzo for the mortal danger of losing not only his own votes but those of Salini, took swift action at the limits of time. He added an “armchair” (the 92nd) to his very welcoming government.

On 11 March, Salini alone had a swearing in ceremony as Undersecretary for Health: he had always defined himself “a country doctor”, and he wasn’t far out. In the meantime the Terzo Polo disappeared from the lists and any votes that would have gone in that direction marched tidily with those of the CDL. Not too many, judging from the results; even though there was fundamental support, the centre right lost Abruzzo as well. The Entrepreneur President, very much aware of the quality-price relationship, recognised the raw deal.

On 22 April, while drawing up the list of the second Bellachioma, struck out the name of Salini. Once he’d returned to the ranks of a simple Forza Italia person, after having tasted for 41 days, the delights of an “armchair”, Salini took hold of his hat: “How inelegant, I find it impolite even from a human and ethical viewpoint. I called Bondi, but he was with Berlusconi. Now I’m looking for Letta. They need to explain why.” But when they saw his telephone number on the display, they put the phone down. Thus the undersecretary-single-use-only had to start again. He “looked around” as they say in these cases. And as Metastasio would say: “wherever I look, it’s Mastella that I see”. Thus, after an understandable internal torment lasting a few seconds and after particularly detailed negotiations with Clemente, since ha had just been "swindled", they found an agreement.

He took all his things and went to Udeur. Now only evil whisperers suspect that in exchange he had the guarantee of a safe electoral college. But these things cannot even be imagined in the party of the moral issue.”