Craven Has Missed More Than 800 Votes During Leave

Sen. William A. Craven (R-Oceanside) has missed work and more than 800 votes since he left the Capitol in mid-May with pneumonia and other serious health problems, records show.

The veteran lawmaker’s protracted absence has given him one of the worst attendance records in the Legislature and taken him away during the heated and tortured deliberations over the state’s $11-billion budget shortfall. Only one other lawmaker has missed more committee and floor votes, computer records show.

But Craven said he’s missed no crucial votes over the past two months, and that he expects to be back at work in the Capitol by early August. He is now resting at home in preparation for gallbladder surgery.

“The only thing I think about, and hopefully it comes to pass, is that all my doctors have said, ‘When you finish with this, you’re going to feel like you’re 40 years old,’ ” said Craven, who is breathing with the help of an oxygen tank.

“A lot of these (health problems) have been gnawing at me for years, and I’ve been pooh-poohing them,” he said. “But it just got too much, and I can recognize that.”

Craven, 71, smoked for 52 years, is overweight, suffers from diabetes and has endured three other bouts with pneumonia.

He has also been found to have a hiatal hernia and a malfunctioning gallbladder, which has caused him so much pain that he often doubles up when he walks.

Craven hasn’t been in Sacramento since May 18, about the time he had to be hospitalized for pneumonia. The senator said his son and district office secretary took him to the hospital after he collapsed at home.

“I have no recollection of it at all,” Craven said. “As a matter of fact, they took me to the doctor first, and I don’t remember anything else.”

Since then, Craven said, he has quit smoking and has lost about 15 pounds on a doctor-ordered diet that avoids salt, fried foods and most meats.

Craven, a diabetic for more than 25 years, said doctors want to operate to remove his gallbladder but are holding off until he becomes stronger and his hernia improves.

While he’s been gone, Craven has missed 844 Senate floor and committee votes through Monday, according to computer records kept by Legi-Tech, a government-tracking service based in Sacramento. None of the tallies was close enough that Craven’s vote would have changed the outcome, however.

The lengthy absence now means that Craven has missed 46% of his votes since the beginning of the session in December, 1990, the second worst attendance record for sitting lawmakers.

Only a seriously ailing Sen. Bill Greene (D-Los Angeles) missed more, at 70%, Legi-Tech records show. The average of missed votes is usually about 15% in the Legislature.

Although the veteran lawmaker missed a key Senate vote last week on education funding, Craven said he doesn’t think he’s missed a “hell of a lot” over the last two months--even with a budget crisis that has forced the state to issue IOUs for the first time since 1936.

“It seems to be the usual acrimony, only intensified . . . “ Craven said, adding that he has promised legislative leaders that he will fly up to Sacramento if his vote is needed to break a deadlock.

“I’m in touch with my offices throughout the day, every day,” Craven said. “There’s very little that goes on that I don’t know about.”

The senator said he has been to his district office in Carlsbad a couple of times but had to “drag myself home” after spending three hours at work one day.

Craven was elected to the Assembly in 1973, then to the Senate in 1978. His current term expires in 1994.