The "Elephant in the Room"

Joe Beach writes the following on the Dispatch/Argus staff blog "Beyond Print"...

Rep. Lane Evans has missed 33 votes in the House since Feb. 14. His staff confirmed Wednesday that he has been sidelined from most of his official duties for the last month by illness attributed to his long battle with Parkinson’s Disease.

Doctors, they said, advised Rep. Evans to take the break.

Staffers say they stay in touch with the Congressman, phoning and visiting him at his Capitol Hill townhouse. Other than to say the incumbent lawmaker could walk, his staff wouldn’t otherwise describe his condition.

While they wouldn’t say when he would return to his duties, they made it clear he would not resign and would stand for re-election in the fall.

Reporters who cover the Congressman have noticed his condition become more severe over the last few years. He moves ever more stiffly, tires easily and his speech is becoming difficult to understand — all symptoms of his disease.

In the past, he and his supporters have always pointed out that Parkinson’s hasn’t kept Rep. Evans from performing his duties. Until now.

Since acknowledging his condition, Rep. Evans’ health has been the elephant in the living room at each of the last three elections. Republican challenger Andrea Zinga raised it as a campaign issue in 2004. She was roundly criticized for suggesting Rep. Evans might not be up to the rigors of the job. She was also soundly defeated.

Eighteen months later and six days before an uncontested primary election that puts him in position to stand for a 13th term, Rep. Evans’ health may now have become a legitimate campaign issue.

Rich Miller picked up this story as well.

I received some of the most vicious, hate-filled responses in the history of the blog in response to a post some time ago in which I simply mentioned Evan's illness while stressing that I didn't think it prevented him from being an effective representitive. It seems as if some blanket of denial has eveloped local Dems about this situation, which while obviously unfortunate, actually does exist, like it or not.

I think it's safe to say that all hope that this bout is only a temporary setback and Lane can recover and participate in his upcoming campaign.

The premise of my previous post was that local Dems have done a woefully inadequate job of planning for the future, and have doggedly allowed people to stand in the way of younger qualified candidates, at least as far as can be seen.

Now Lane's health is something that can't be rationally ignored any longer. What happens now? What are the different scenarios and how might they be addressed? How can his campaign combat the Republicans who will obviously use this as a campaign issue?

And please, try to deal with this rationally and calmly. What can be done if, God forbid, Lane decides that he is unable to run?