June 29, 2004
Mayor Back At Work, But Battling Rare Cancer
City Examines Contingencies If She Cannot Finish Term
While we did receive notice of it, we unfortunately were unable to make it to this afternoon's news conference where Mayor Vera Katz discussed her return to work and battle with cancer. According to that KGW story and other media reports, the cancer Katz is fighting is rare and little understood:
In her first public appearance since she was hospitalized on June 15, Katz on Tuesday said she would continue to lead the city and conduct city business, despite a brutal regimen that requires dialysis three times a week and chemotherapy this Thursday. After resting this weekend, she plans to come back to work again next Tuesday.
...
Her medical team is calling experts across the country to determine how to treat the cancer and what effect it may have on the kidney. The cancer is so rare, her nurse couldn't find it in a medical text. The only information available on the disease is from the Internet.
"The word wasn't even in the book," she said. "That's the frightening part. On the other hand, that's the challenge. Because if we can beat this ... it'll be a wonderful story."
And, of course, she said that she fully intends to complete her work as Mayor all the way until her term officially ends.
Apparently, according to KGW's television newscast, she also warned people to be prepared for the wigs she has ready to go, since it's expected that the chemotherapy will prompt the usual hair loss in the near future. Two weeks ago, she joked about purple and blonde.
We're not sure whether it was the KATU or the KGW news report, but one of the newscasts this afternoon had some discussion of what would happen at City Hall should Katz be unable to finish out her term. The question is arising because this particular form of cancer comes with something of an iffy prognosis.
The first discussion of that possibility that we saw was an Oregonian story from last week:
Susan Francois, the city's elections officer, said she has reviewed the city charter's election rules as a precaution and reached some tentative conclusions.
If circumstances prompted Katz to step down before Aug. 24, Francois said it appears the city would hold a special runoff election for the remainder of her term between the two candidates vying to replace Katz -- Commissioner Jim Francesconi and former police Chief Tom Potter. That special election could come as early as Sept. 21, or as late as the already scheduled Nov. 2 election, she said.
If Katz left later in the year, Francois said it appears the council would have discretion to keep her position vacant until either Francesconi or Potter takes office in January.
Our hazy recollection suggests that this doesn't exactly match what we just saw on the news, but we could be wrong, or perhaps the City did some more consideration since last week. We do recall something about the premise that during any interim between a Mayor's departure and the election of a new one, the Council President would be in charge. At the moment, that's Commissioner Erik Sten, but beginning in July, Commissioner Dan Saltzman takes over that position.
Comments (3)
The One True b!X on 29 Jun 2004
Then there was the very wrong and unfortunate blooper during KGW's newscast. I'm loathe to mention it at all, but I saw it, it happened, and I'll pass it along.
As the anchor began reading the copy for the story about the Mayor's recovery and return to work, a graphic for an entirely different story came into view next to his head. It read: "Dog Recovering."
Now, it's our theory that whoever was running the graphics chose the wrong graphic with the word "recovering" in its filename, since there indeed is a current story about a dog recovering from gunshot wounds.
But yeesh.
It also might have been a good idea if the people lounging around in the studio had managed to stop laughing before the director cut to the reporter for the story itself.
abc on 30 Jun 2004
has it been released what kinda of cancer it is? i am curious, because my sister has a rare disease that the center for rare disorders only had some medical journal information on, and i have thus had some experience with the frustration of having to deal with something that makes doctors shrug.
Katt on 30 Jun 2004
I didn't know the Council presidency spot rotated among the members. I had assumed that only one commissioner was that role at all times.
This seems like a holdover from 1913, and I'm surprised it's still around. It's nice to let everyone have a turn at chairing the meetings while the mayor's away, but it seems a little odd that should the unfortunate happen and the mayor dies in office, the next person in charge could get there through luck of the draw on the scheduling.