McCaslin hospitalized, may miss remainder of session

OLYMPIA – Bob McCaslin, the state senator and Spokane Valley city councilman, was hospitalized Thursday after experiencing shortness of breath and dizziness. He needs an aortic valve replacement and may miss the remainder of the short legislative session. Booker Stallworth, a McCaslin aide, said the senator was returning from lunch with a staff member when he mentioned the symptoms. McCaslin wanted to return to his office but the staff member took him instead to Providence St. Peter Hospital, where he was admitted. “He’s known about the need for valve replacement surgery but had hoped to put it off until after the session,” Stallworth said. That doesn’t appear possible, and doctors in Olympia were coordinating with McCaslin’s doctors in Spokane in an attempt for him to return home for the surgery. McCaslin, 83, was excused from Wednesday’s late-night session that suspended Initiative 960 because he wasn’t feeling well, Stallworth said. It’s not clear if that was connected to Thursday’s problems. He was “resting well and in good spirits”.