SEATTLE — Former Gov. Dan Evans, an unparalleled figure in Washington politics whose commitment to people over partisanship earned him the nickname “Straight Arrow,” died Sept. 20 at 98.
Serving three terms as a Republican governor from 1965 to 1977 and as a one-term U.S. senator from 1983 to 1988, Evans was revered on both sides of the political aisle as a moderate pragmatist.
He never lost an election for public office.
As governor, Evans ushered in sweeping environmental protections for Washington’s parks and coasts, oversaw the creation of the state’s community college system and welcomed Vietnam War refugees to Washington when they faced resistance in California.
His name became shorthand: “Dan Evans Republicans” often emphasized social issues and a willingness to seek bipartisan solutions, while having more traditionally conservative fiscal beliefs.
Here are five key areas in which his actions outlasted his time in his office.
Education expansion
“His legacy is seen today in the forests and mountains he helped protect, in the communities and economies he helped prosper, and in his beloved University of Washington, which he helped transform into a global higher education leader,” said Bob Ferguson, state attorney general and Democratic candidate for governor.
As governor, Evans worked with the Legislature in 1967 to launch the state’s community college system, opening the door to higher learning and technical education to thousands of Washington students.
He oversaw the creation of the Evergreen State College in Olympia — where he would eventually serve as president — and approved record funding for four-year colleges and universities. During his time at Evergreen, Evans successfully warded off several attempts to close the college.
In 1993, then-Gov. Mike Lowry, a Democrat, appointed Evans to the University of Washington Board of Regents.
“Dan Evans understands the fiscal restrictions state government must work under, and he knows the demands of a higher-education institution,” Lowry said at the time.
Evans spent 12 years on the board and was president in 1996-97.
UW named its public policy school after him in 1999.
The environment
“The designation of the Daniel J. Evans Wilderness is a fitting tribute to a man who has done so much in so many areas but has also done so much to make sure that we have protection of our state’s premier wilderness areas,” Sen. Maria Cantwell said in 2016.
Evans, an avid skier and mountain climber himself, was a proponent of protecting Washington’s natural splendor and improving access to state parks.
He helped create North Cascades National Park and the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area. In 1970, he called a special legislative session to promote environmental protection, which led to the creation of the first state Department of Ecology in the country.
Evans would go on to found the nonprofit citizens group Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition with Lowry in 1989, working to secure state funding to restore wildlife habitat, buy land and develop recreation sites. Since 1990, a state program that the group helped create has awarded $620 million in grants and purchased more than 350,000 acres.
In 1988, then-Sen. Evans introduced a bill, the Washington Park Wilderness Act, which proposed more than 1.7 million acres of wilderness land within the state’s national parks, according to the National Park Service website. More than 95 percent of Olympic National Park is considered wilderness. The parks department renamed the Olympic Wilderness in Evans’ honor in 2017.
Economic recovery
“Dan was a guiding light for those of us in service who sought to work with others, regardless of ideology or party, to get things done for Washingtonians,” said Dave Reichert, former U.S. representative and Republican candidate for governor.
In 1972, Evans championed a collection of bills and ballot initiatives called the “Washington Futures,” calling on voters to greenlight millions in funding for the infrastructure improvements and construction of highways, water systems, hospitals, state colleges, public transit and parks.
The Washington Futures program was designed to help the region — badly impacted by the Boeing Bust — to economically recover. All but one of the bond measures passed.
The early 1970s also saw Evans, as governor, try to spearhead legislation that would create a state income tax. He was not successful. Today, the state’s main source of revenue remains a general sales tax.
Even-keeled bipartisanship
“I would rather cross the aisle than cross the people,” Evans said in his 1973 inaugural address — a mantra that he would repeat throughout his life.
Both Republicans and Democrats admired Evans throughout his decadeslong political career.
Over time, Evans grew frustrated with the polarization of politics and how ineffective it had become. He wrote a 1988 New York Times Magazine piece expressing his frustrations and why he chose not to seek reelection in the Senate.
“I have lived through five years of bickering and protracted paralysis,” he wrote. “I just can’t face another six years of frustrating gridlock.”
Evans penned a 2002 op-ed about the need for bipartisanship. He called for an end to the “nasty partisanship” infecting the Legislature.
“There are no Republican schools or Democrat highways, no liberal salmon or conservative parks,” he wrote. “Our current malaise is not so much a lack of resources as a lack of will and leadership.”
Embrace of refugees
“When other states turned their backs on Vietnamese refugees who stood by us in wartime, Evans opened the door,” said Deanna Martinez, chair of the Mainstream Republicans of Washington.
Evans embraced Vietnamese refugees in the aftermath of the fall of Saigon in 1975 — a direct response to then-Gov. Jerry Brown of California saying he did not want the refugees in his state and even trying to block the first plane’s arrival. It proved to be one of Evans’ most celebrated legacies.
“Here were people who were being driven from their home country, had no place to go, and we were trying to reject them?” Evans recalled in an interview in 2015. “It didn’t make sense.”
Evans dispatched a top aide, Ralph Munro, who would later become secretary of state, to a California camp to tell the new arrivals they would be welcome in Washington.
Washington’s governor told Munro to deliver a message to Brown if he saw him: “Remind him what it says at the base of the Statue of Liberty.”
Evans required every government agency, church and nonprofit in Washington to help with resettlement. He also encouraged families to bring refugees into their homes.
