What does everyone think of Lane Evans? Dem Rep from Rock Island

[Tweed]

http://www.house.gov/evans/

"Cong. Lane Evans, a Democrat from Rock Island, represents Illinois' 17th Congressional District. First elected in 1982, Evans is serving his eleventh term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Ranking Democratic Member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, Cong. Evans is recognized as a leading advocate of veterans in Congress. His legislative achievements include spearheading the successful effort to pass Agent Orange compensation. This past Congress, he built on that legislative milestone by winning passage of a law that delivers health and compensation benefits to children of veterans exposed to Agent Orange who were born with spina bifida, a crippling birth defect. It represents the first time children of veterans will receive government benefits.

A Vietnam-era Veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Evans was also one of the first Congressional voices to speak out about problems experienced by Persian Gulf veterans and has taken the lead in seeking benefits and full disclosure about exposures during their service. He has also worked to expand services to women veterans, pushed for increased help for vets suffering from Post-Traumatic Disorder, and crafted legislation to direct numbers of homeless veterans.

In recognition of his legislative leadership, Cong. Evans in 1990 was awarded the Vietnam Veterans of America's first annual President's Award for Outstanding Achievement. In 1994, he received the AMVET's Silver Helmet Award, called the "Oscar" of veterans honors."

I'm not from that part of the state, so I don't know too much but he seems like a great rep. Anyone have some stories to tell?

[madrchsod]

1. well the repubs ran

a former newscaster against him and she failed miserably. he`s a great guy and a credit to the democratic party and to all the people he represents. the republicans brought up the fact he was "handicapped" opps,that was a big mistake! what you see and hear about him is what ya get,a true representive of all the people

[Radical Activist]

2. He's a good liberal

I like him. He proves you don't have to be a moderate to represent downstate Illinois, but then again Durbin and Simon already proved that.

[seventythree]

10. ask why the extreme gerrymandering of his district, then?

Durbin was pro-life, remember, before the Senate.

[Radical Activist]

11. That happened to all the districts

They did it for the Republicans too. There's no reason to single Evans out for that. He was in Congress a long time before the new districts.

[dogman]

3. It seemed a lot of the downstate support for Obama came from his org.

I believe the Obama coordinator who repped to our County came from Evans' group. He's probably in one of the bluer patches of Illinois.

[DaveinMD]

4. the right wing

has been running hard at Evans forever. He's a real labor Democrat.

[davsand]

5. Evans' district is SO gerrymandered!

Have you ever looked at that map? Lord. I am surprised the Dems didn't challenge that one.

Evans has something like ALS or MS (I can't remember what it is for sure.) I know he's been in some poor health, but he really seems to be on top of his job and doing a good job for his people. I think he's probably got that job for as long as he wants it.

I know he tried hard to help out the people over in Galesburg when the GE plant was getting ready to close. I heard several happy comments from people over there who worked with him.


Laura

[nickinSTL]

6. Evans has Parkinson's disease

I lived in his district for a few years, as a kid, in college, and again before I moved to St. Louis.

He seems decent from what I gathered while living there.

The thing that struck me when I was there was that the Repubs kept running an anti-gay bigot against him. In...I think it was 1994, the Repub had anti-gay political ads. Which only made me even more likely to support Evans.

[Tweed]

7. I didn't know that Evans had Parkinson's.

Thank you for the update. Really all the info from all the posters has been helpful.

[laylah]

8. I think Lane is a dying breed

of TRUE politicians. One with honor, integrity, and a true concern for his constituents. I'd vote for him in a heartbeat!

Jenn

[seventythree]

9. and what has he done about your problem?

he is close to the Governor, and Gianulis -- he could stop the threats in a heartbeat, and assure no retribution on your loved one. Have you talked to him? not his staff, him? If you have and all this stuff has occurred after that conversation, then you might want to edit the "true concern" line. There is helping constituents and then there is helping "Marie" -- maybe you can still rent the video about the Kentucky, I believe, heroine -- Sissy Spacek played Marie in the film -- it's not fiction. Perhaps you remember seeing it? That started out with selling pardons -- it sometimes takes a long time to get an expose, but if your evidence is rock solid, you will find a journalist who is interested. Look how hard Tammie Raynor fought to get the truth exposed on Ryan?