Tom Kean Jr. Sought Help for Depression. He Hasn’t Made It Easy for Others to Do the Same.

The disappearance of Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) took the political world by storm over the last few months. The refusal to provide any details into the unexplained medical issue created a storm of speculation. Now we know what kept him away from the job for more than 100 days: Depression.

In no way, shape, or form do I mean to diminish the severity of mental health, as someone diagnosed with major depressive disorder, but there is a serious problem when a congressman can miss all that time with no repercussions, yet his constituents would have been fired or at least not been paid for doing the same thing. He’s supposed to be held to a higher standard in Congress, not a lower one.

It’s one thing if he had a heart attack, but as the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. Kean owed it to his constituents to be there for every vote. Mental health should not preclude a congressman from carrying out his elected duty, and if it does, he’s not fit for office. Especially when he was still able to trade stocks during his absence.

The lack of fairness isn’t even the biggest issue here. House Republicans are fighting for their lives with the slimmest of majorities, and one of their fellow party members was AWOL. Republican voters are fed up with Congress’s inability to enact President Donald Trump’s agenda, and Kean’s prolonged absence only exacerbates the problem.

Kean isn’t the only congressman to abandon his post over mental health issues, as Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) missed an extraordinary amount of votes as a result of his own struggles with depression. With all due respect to Kean and Fetterman, there should be a mechanism to remove lawmakers unfit to serve in Congress if they refuse to resign.

The Constitution does not currently have a solution for this, as the Supreme Court made clear in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton that states cannot impose additional restrictions, such as term limits, on its federal representatives, outside of those already on the books. Yet, a president can be impeached or have the 25th Amendment invoked on him, and a governor can be recalled from office in some states. So why not amend the Constitution to allow states to recall lawmakers, even if only temporarily, in these situations?

When congressmen such as Kean and Fetterman go AWOL over mental health troubles, they leave their constituents dealing with taxation without representation. In Kean’s case, NJ-7 voters are left without a House representative. In Fetterman’s case, Pennsylvania Democrats don’t get a Senate vote, while the state’s Republicans do, through Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA).

Depression or not, Kean should have been recalled, and someone else should have swiftly taken his place, and then, if he so desires, he should be able to run for office again, or return to the job. Whether NJ-7 voters should trust that he’ll be up to the task is another story. Unfortunately, in the absence of such a mechanism, we’ll likely see more abuses of this unconditional job security in the future.

TOM KEAN JR. SET FOR MATCHUP WITH DEMOCRAT REBECCA BENNETT IN NOVEMBER

If anyone understands how hard it is to struggle with depression, it’s me. It’s only by the grace of God that I’m still here, and there have been some close calls. I pray for Kean that he would be healed and comforted during his times of need, now and in the future. But Congress is deciding the future of our 250-year-old nation, and with the stakes higher than ever, we cannot afford to be shorthanded, especially when he had the physical ability to show up.

The idea of, at the very least, having an interim representative (whether selected by the senators, state party, or voters) in cases where the elected congressman can’t serve for medical reasons should not be controversial. Sadly, because it would require members of Congress to vote to remove their unconditional job security, it will likely never see the light of day.