Rep. Anderson ‘Well’ After Heart Surgery

Rep. Glenn M. Anderson (D-Harbor City) is doing “fantastically well” a week after having a quadruple heart bypass operation, according to his executive assistant.

The 75-year-old congressman is recovering at his home in San Pedro. “He’s doing great,” executive assistant Ann Ramirez said Wednesday. “He took a two-mile walk this morning.”

Anderson had no previous history of heart problems, but decided to have the bypass operation after a routine physical detected a buildup of plaque in his arteries. Surgery at the Hospital of the Good Samaritan in Los Angeles originally was planned for the congressional recess in August, but was moved up to last week to accommodate his physician’s schedule.

On his doctor’s advice, Anderson will not attend the Democratic National Convention later this month in Atlanta, where he was to have been a delegate for Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, Ramirez said.

However, if his doctor approves, Anderson plans to be back at work in Washington by the end of July. In the meantime, Ramirez said, “he is carrying a light workload.”

For the past three months, Anderson has been chairman of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee, which oversees all federal highway, mass transit and airport programs.

During his 10 terms in Congress, Anderson has been a vigorous advocate for highway and mass transit projects throughout Southern California, paying particular attention to public works spending in the Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbor. The unfinished Century Freeway is officially called the Glenn M. Anderson Freeway. He was first elected to the House in 1968, after serving as lieutenant governor and a state assemblyman.

Anderson is seeking reelection and will face Republican Sanford Kahn, a Long Beach businessman, this fall in the overwhelmingly Democratic 32nd Congressional District, which includes San Pedro, Lomita, Lakewood, Hawaiian Gardens and parts of Long Beach, Bellflower and Downey.