Penn alum sets sights on D.C. mayor's post

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As the nation's capitol attempts to prove to Congress that it can once again take care of itself, University alumnus Jack Evans is hoping to persuade Washington voters to choose him to be the one that leads the city's 600,000 residents to the promised land of home rule. Evans, 44, a member of Washington's city council since 1991, is running for the Democratic nomination for mayor of the embattled city. "I've done a lot as a councilmember, but in order to really effect the changes that I want to in the way our government is run, you have to be in the mayor-level position," the 1975 Wharton graduate said. Evans' candidacy became much more plausible last month when Washington's colorful and popular "mayor-for-life" Marion Barry announced he would not seek a fifth term in office. Barry has been at the epicenter of D.C. politics for two decades, including the year he spent in a federal prison on drug charges. However, Evans still faces several obstacles -- perhaps the most important being the color of his skin in this heavily African-American city. "[Being] a white person running in a predominantly black city has been a challenge," Evans said, though "much less of a challenge than one might expect." "This city, like many cities across the country, is less focused on race than it once was," he added. Still, Evans remains an underdog for the Democratic nomination. His opponents include two other city councilmembers, the District's former chief financial officer and a wealthy restaurateur. The general election following the primaries is largely a formality, since the city is almost exclusively Democratic. Unlike Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell, a 1965 College graduate, Evans did not have any aspirations of public office while a student at Penn, though he did find political science "fascinating." "I guess there are those people who focus on running for office, but I can't say that was what I was thinking about at that time, and the opportunity didn't really present itself until the late 1980s," Evans said. Instead, he studied finance at Wharton and studied political theory rather than engaging in its practice. He was also a brother in the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity, and served as its secretary for two years. "It was a great time to go to college," he said of his years at Penn. He added that living in Philadelphia after having grown up in a small town was eye-opening. Evans said he particularly remembers some of his political theory professors, one of whose textbooks he still has in his office. He began to discover his political instincts when he attended law school at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was elected law school student president. After he graduated in 1978, he moved to Washington and began a six-year stint as a lawyer at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Since he left the SEC in 1984, Evans has maintained a practice specializing in securities and transactional law. Also in the 1980s, Evans began volunteering for local Democratic groups, culminating in his election to the D.C. city council in 1991. Evans ran against 16 candidates after the incumbent in his ward was elected the council's president. Each ward, or separate geographic area of the district, elects its own council member. "Opportunities don't come along much, so I seized the moment," he said. He was re-elected by wide margins in 1992 and 1996. Besides his entrance into the world of politics, the 1990s have also found Evans starting a family. He was married in 1994, and became the father of triplets two years later. Raising a family while running for mayor of a large city is difficult, Evans admitted, but he has tried to spend as much time with his children as possible. Evans was the first candidate to formally announce his candidacy, and he has raised more money than any of the others -- which he says is a factor in the race, but not the most important one. "Money helps in elections. It doesn't win you elections, but it certainly helps," he said. Filled campaign coffers are probably more important this year than any in recent memory, since all of the candidates suffer from poor name recognition among voters and will need a heavy dose of television advertising to get their messages across. District politics have changed since Congress and President Clinton appointed a control board to oversee the city's finances four years ago after it posted several consecutive huge budget deficits. Since then, the board has taken on additional powers, leaving the mayor as little more than a figurehead. In fact, the only city agency the mayor still has direct control over is the Department of Parks and Recreation. But the board is scheduled to go out of existence in 2001 if the District's finances continue to rebound. And Evans said he is willing to be patient and work with the control board in a "coalition government" until then. The next few years are very important for Washington, since Congress could change its mind and extend the control board's term. Evans said he thinks with "the right man" as mayor, Congress would allow District residents to once again run their own city.

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