WASHINGTON, D.C. - It has been three weeks since U.S. Rep. Lane Evans returned to Congress after an extended leave due to illness, and while his health continues to be an issue, the Democrat from Rock Island said he is doing the job his constituents expect.

However, for most of his three weeks back at work, Evans has not cast votes.

Between June 7 and Thursday, when Congress adjourned for the Independence Day holiday, Evans voted only 14 of 131 times, a stark departure for a congressman who has taken pride in the 97 percent voting record he had before his health took a turn for the worse in February.

Evans missed votes on two appropriations bills and another vote on a Republican measure opposing a deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

In fact, the last vote Evans cast was June 15 on a procedural measure related to the troop withdrawal resolution.

A 12-term congressman in Illinois' 17th District, Evans announced in late March that he would not seek re-election this year because of his battle with Parkinson's disease, a neurological disorder he was diagnosed with in 1995.

At the same time, Evans said he would serve out his current term.

His decision not to run again was a shock to many, and it came amid what ended up being a nearly four-month absence that was unprecedented for him. During that time, he was hospitalized briefly.

Evans returned to Congress the first week of June.

Since then, his chief aide says, Evans has directed the office staff and worked, as the ranking member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, to coordinate the response of Democrats on that panel to the loss of a laptop computer containing personal information for 26 million military veterans.

"I talk to him every day," said Dennis King, Evans' chief of staff, who also was appointed his guardian during a court hearing last month.

He acknowledged that Evans has not voted often, saying his stamina has been an issue and that the congressman has missed work time. But King added that Evans has not required hospitalization.

"I think his strength is fine. It's just what he has to fight against," King said.

He said it is Evans' intent to improve upon his voting record when Congress returns to work July 10.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Evans said a congressman's job is more than just voting.

"If you look at it, I don't think it's done anything to hamper the job people have elected me to do," he said.

An area Republican Party leader, while wishing Evans good health, disagrees.

"It does not give us a voice in Washington," said Susan Carpentier, chairwoman of the Rock Island County Republican Party.

Two years ago, Evans backers cited his prolific voting record as a defense when election challenger Andrea Zinga, a Republican from Coal Valley, argued that he was not as active and effective of a congressman as he should be.

Evans said he is getting around day to day, "meeting people." He also wants to help his longtime friend and aide, Phil Hare, in the race for 17th District representative, but that will come later.

Hare of Rock Island, who recently resigned as Evans' district director, is running against Zinga.

At the same time, the congressman acknowledged that he struggles with the Parkinson's disease.

"With the heat, it gets pretty difficult at times," he said.

But he suggested a reporter ought to pay less attention to his voting and attendance records and more to the loss of the VA laptop, which was discovered Thursday. No information had been accessed from the computer, officials said. Evans and Democrats on his committee have pressed for an investigation into the disappearance.

"It's people to me, not voting records and attendance records," he said.

Over the holiday, Evans was planning to be in the 17th District, taking part in parades and other activities, his staff says.

Then it will be back to Washington, D.C.

"I'm very much looking forward to returning to Congress in about a week-and-a-half," he said.

Ed Tibbetts can be contacted at (563) 383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com.