Wichita Eagle’s Dion Lefler, Chance Swaim win Victor Murdock Award
Wichita Eagle reporters Dion Lefler and Chance Swaim have won the 2021 Victor Murdock Award for their investigative series, “Anatomy of a Smear Campaign,” which exposed a plot by local officials to smear then-mayoral candidate Brandon Whipple and frame local GOP chairman Dalton Glasscock for their misdeeds.
The investigation found that Republican officials bankrolled the dark-money attack ad, titled “Protect Wichita Girls” on Facebook and YouTube, with at least $10,000 from local donors in the WIchita-area real estate and construction industries who supported Whipple’s opponent, former Mayor Jeff Longwell. They funneled the donations through a 501(c)(3) charity controlled by then state Rep. Michael Capps.
The Murdock Award, named after late Eagle editor Victor Murdock, is an annual honor bestowed by the Kansas Press Association that recognizes journalistic excellence in a story or series published in a Kansas newspaper.
Lefler and Swaim’s three-part series led to the resignation of Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell and Wichita City Council member James Clendenin. Capps was handily defeated in the August 2020 primary election a month after The Eagle’s investigation was published.
The Eagle’s series uncovered involvement by O’Donnell and Clendenin months before an audio recording surfaced showing how they conceived a plot to have Capps go on the former Republican state Rep. John Whitmer’s radio show and accuse Glasscock of approving the smear campaign.
Whipple, who was accused of sexual harassment in the false attack ads, is currently suing all three Republicans for defamation.
Swaim and Lefler also headed The Eagle’s investigative team that won the prestigious George Polk Award for political reporting in 2020.
Recently retired Eagle investigations editor Jean Hays was also honored with the KPA’s Gaston Outstanding Mentor Award. Hays was the lead editor on the “Anatomy of a Smear Campaign” series and Swaim’s and Lefler’s Polk award coverage.
This story was originally published September 15, 2021 at 3:45 PM.