McConnell, Kean absences revive debate about what information lawmakers owe voters

Lawmakers’ extended and sometimes unexplained absences from Washington are raising questions about how much transparency elected officials owe the public about their health.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been in the hospital for more than three weeks, with aides providing few details about the reason even as 911 dispatch audio revealed paramedics had responded to an “unconscious” person having a “cardiac arrest” at McConnell’s Washington home the same day the senator was hospitalized.

His staff has said the 84-year-old Kentucky lawmaker is improving.

Speculation about McConnell’s absence comes on the heels of Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.) last week returning to Congress after a four-month unexplained absence. He said on the House floor upon returning that he was being treated for depression.

The lack of transparency has left some inside and outside political circles debating what information McConnell, Kean and others like them owe to their constituents and what rights to privacy elected officials maintain. McConnell represents more than four million Kentuckians while Kean has more than 700,000 people in his district.

It’s also set off speculation about whether the lawmakers’ true conditions were purposefully downplayed or hidden — and led some to fill in the blanks. 

Right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer claimed on social media Monday that sources told her McConnell was “brain dead” and that he “isn’t ever coming back.” On Tuesday, though, Republican Senate leaders released statements saying they had long conversations with McConnell, combatting those rumors.

Being more upfront about health issues, some say, would not only clear up misinformation — but is what voters deserve.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, published a letter to McConnell Wednesday morning urging him to provide a health update for the good of their mutual constituents. 

“Allowing speculation to continue in the media is not fair to the Senator or to Kentuckians, and my hope is that this provides him the opportunity to share the information in a transparent manner, direct from the source,” Beshear wrote in his letter. “I wish him a safe and speedy recovery.” 

Charles Booker and Zach Dembo, two Democratic candidates for congressional seats in Kentucky, have said recently that the public should be given more information about McConnell’s condition. 

“Obviously we should not be invading someone’s medical privacy, but everyone’s counting........

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