Porter will miss LV fund-raiser

Suzanne Struglinski

Thursday, Jan. 15, 2004 | 11:15 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., will not be at a Las Vegas fund-raiser for his campaign today with Vice President Dick Cheney.

Porter had ear surgery on Monday in Washington and doctors advised him not to fly as he recovers.

"I'm realistic, most people will be coming to see the vice president," Porter said.

Cheney was scheduled to give remarks at a Porter fund-raising lunch at the Bellagio.

Porter had cotton in his right ear Wednesday as he watched Nevada's oral arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

"The most important thing this week was to be here for the Yucca Mountain hearing," Porter said this morning.

If given the choice, he would have been in Washington for Wednesday's hearing then flown back for the fund-raiser today, Porter said, but his doctor's advice prohibited that.

Spokesman Adam Mayberry said the vice president has been told about Porter's absence and chose to attend anyway.

Porter said he has been working with the White House for a while to get on the schedule and this was the best time for Cheney, even though the congressman could not be here.

"I don't agree 100 percent with the Bush administration, and obviously (Yucca Mountain) is one of those issues" Porter said. "But most people realize this is not a Democrat or Republican issue. It is 49 states against Nevada."

A virus in his right ear has kept Porter from the state since just after Thanksgiving. Doctors at the Bethesda Naval Medical Center in a Washington suburb repaired a "fistula," a narrow passage formed by disease or injury, between Porter's inner and middle ear. Porter said he had an MRI in December that ruled out any other problems.

Porter said the doctors think air pressure from his frequent flights back to Nevada on top of a cold he had were part of the problem. He said his left ear is just fine.

"There are people with loss of hearing in one or both ears that have been working with this their whole lives," Porter said.

Until his illness Porter flew home every weekend, logging about 30,000 miles a month in the air.

He has a "moderate hearing loss" in his right ear, he said, adding that it is the most scientific term his doctors have used to describe it.

The loss fluctuates, he said. "Some days I can hear better than others."

He meets with doctors again Wednesday.