Reporter investigated Congress members [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Sun, Nov. 07, 2004




DAMON CHAPPIE


Reporter investigated Congress members
From Herald Wire Services


WASHINGTON - Damon Chappie, an investigative reporter who unearthed ethical lapses and corruption in Congress, died Friday of congestive heart failure and other health problems at a Washington hospice. He lived in Arlington, Va. He was 40.

Since 1995, he had worked at Roll Call, a small but influential paper that examines the inner workings of Capitol Hill. Chappie's investigations, based on documents uncovered through the Freedom of Information Act, a thick Rolodex and sometimes direct confrontation, examined ethical conflicts surrounding former House speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.; Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill.; former Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

One of Chappie's frequent targets was Rep. Bud Shuster, who chaired the House Transportation Committee and often traveled across the country raising money in the company of a female lobbyist. After being investigated by the House ethics committee, Shuster resigned his seat in January 2001.

Chappie also conducted early investigations into bribery and corruption linked to Traficant, who was expelled from Congress in 2002 and later sentenced to eight years in prison.Chappie, who was born in Reading, Pa., gained notice as a journalist in college at Pennsylvania State University by investigating Clair George, a Penn State alumnus who was one of the CIA's central figures in the Iran-contra scandal of the 1980s.
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Normally, I wouldn't have tried to post this, but I hope it will seem appropriate after you examine the kind of people he investigated. Thanks.