Meeting Washington Icon

At Alta Barer's memorial, there was a man that I could not wait to meet.  Dan Evans was governor of Washington from 1964 to 1976, basically, from when I was in 1st grade almost through my freshman year at WSU.  

He is a Republican and I'm a Democrat. I always wanted to see him defeated.  After 3 terms, he declined to run for a 4th term.

He would later serve a US Senator, replacing the iconic Scoop Jackson after his sudden passing.

Time passes and I now consider Evans one of our state's greatest public servants.  By meeting him, I later realize that I have met or seen in person, every person who has served as Washington governor during my 62 year lifetime.   I thought for a while that I had met every US Senator from Washington that served during my life, but later remembered that I had not met the late Brock Adams, who served one term.  Adams, ironically, was once law partners with my cousin, Stan Barer.

40 Years Ago--Memories Of The Wes Uhlman Campaign For Washington Governor

In 1976, Dan Evans, the 3 term governor of Washington, announced that he would not run for a fourth. Democrats had their best chance in over a decade to finally take the state house.  I was a teen and finally old enough to vote.  The candidate that excited me was the mayor of Seattle, Wes Uhlman. 
Uhlman was charismatic and considered one of the new breed of progressive mayors.  He was also a a close friend of my Uncle Arny, who at the time was practicing law in Seattle and active in local politics. 
I had just graduated from Walla Walla High School and about to enter WSU..  At the Walla Walla County Democratic summer picnic that year, my dad got to drive the Seattle mayor from the Walla Walla airport to the Gary Stromeyer (sp) ranch where Uhlman would be the main speaker.  That was where I first met Uhlman, whom I found a very engaging figure. The mayor gave my dad a Seattle tie for his driving duties, and my dad would later give the tie to me.
The next time I met  saw Uhlman in person was at the Walla Walla Fair.  I got to walk in his entourage as he shook hands with fair goers.   I was impressed with one of his staffers, who was the daughter of a Washington State Legislator. 
Sadly, a few weeks later, Uhlman would lose the Democratic Primary (at that time the Washington primary was held in Mid September), Dixie Lee Ray, who I felt was much more conservative than even the sitting Republican governor, would carry the Democratic Banner.  I so mad that I did not vote for her, although it was a good year for Democrats.  Jimmy Carter was elected president and Dixie Lee Ray was elected governor.  In the years that followed, Washington voters would get buyer's remorse for choosing Ray.
Uhlman would never again run for public office.  No subsequent Seattle mayor has been successful seeking higher office.

50 Years Ago--Dan Evans Elected Governor

On November 3rd, 1964. While the nation gave a landslide victory to Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson, our state elected a Republican Governor.  Dan Evans had an image as a straight arrow.  His popularity was such that he proposed a state income tax, something Liberal Democrats do not do.  He championed conservation, and education, and was behind prison reform.  In fact, when he finally left office, succeeded by Democrat Dixie Lee Ray in 1976, it was a shift to the Right, rather than the left.  He delivered the keynote address at the Republican National Convention in 1968, but also helped create and was later president of The Evergreen State College in Olympia,  a school with a reputation for Liberal ideas.
He would serve 3 terms as governor, defeating sitting two term Governor Al Rossellini in 1964. In 1968, he beat Attorney General John J. O'Connell and finally, in 1972 once again beat Al Rossellini.
Evans was later appointed to the US Senate to succeed the late Henry "Scoop" Jackson. He was elected in his own right in 1983, he would only serve one term.
He did have a couple of black marks on his career, although it can be argued that it was not his fault.  In his last campaign, bumper stickers came out attacking his opponent Al Rossellini's Italian heritage   He also had a young intelligent campaign aide named Theodore Bundy, who unbeknownst to those around him, had a notorious secret life.
Evans wife Nancy is a graduate of Whitman College.