Former Congressman Charlie Rose dies

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Former Rep. Charlie Rose, a savvy political player who used his seat on the House Agriculture Committee to help tobacco farmers, has died. He was 73.

Stacye Hefner, the wife of the former congressman, said yesterday that he died of Parkinson's disease in a hospital near their northern Alabama home. She said Rose was diagnosed with the degenerative brain disorder last year.

Rose, a Democrat, spent 24 years in Washington representing the 7th Congressional District, which included his hometown of Fayetteville. The attorney and former prosecutor became a powerful lawmaker in Congress and used his Agriculture Committee seat to back the interests of farmers, especially tobacco growers back home.

He also was chairman of the House Administration Committee in the early 1990s. -- AP