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Public Comments - Media

Evans keeps his options open
Polk County Itemizer-Observer
February 7, 2007

MONMOUTH -- Paul Evans was awaiting transport at an air base in Kyrgyztan in Central Asia on Nov. 7 when he made a phone call to his wife, Joan, to check in on election night in Oregon.

Craig Coleman
February 07, 2007

MONMOUTH -- Paul Evans was awaiting transport at an air base in Kyrgyztan in Central Asia on Nov. 7 when he made a phone call to his wife, Joan, to check in on election night in Oregon.

With the polls nearly closed, Joan reported that Evans was coming up short in his bid for the District 10 seat in the Oregon Senate.

A few moments later, he boarded a C-17 to Afghanistan with 25 other members of the 73rd Expeditionary Air Control Squadron.

"It wasn't trending in our direction with that first phone call," Evans said. "So, I flew off knowing that more people were voting against me than for me ... it was a tough day."

Evans returned to Monmouth in late January from a two-and-a-half month tour with the Oregon Air National Guard in Kandahar.

This week, he flew to Washington, D.C. to spend some time with Joan -- who is chief of staff for Oregon Rep. Darlene Hooley -- and their 15-year-old daughter, Kate.

The break has been good, Evans said, allowing him an opportunity to reflect on his tour in Afghanistan, the election and a career change -- he has taken a job as a military policy advisor to Gov. Ted Kulongoski.

The former Monmouth mayor was in a close race with Republican Jackie Winters last October when commanding officers asked him to take part in a two-month mission to Afghanistan. He agreed to what would become his eighth stint in a combat zone.

Evans's primary job was heading a 15-person crew responsible for strategic command and control of coalition aircraft.

From a high-tech tent at Camp Palomino -- located on a former Soviet Union airbase -- the unit coordinated fueling and surveillance missions and other tasks involving military personnel from several different countries.

"For one battle, you had Dutch Apache (helicopters), American special forces, the Royal Airforce ... everybody working together," Evans said.

Being in Afghanistan -- which is experiencing a resurgence of the Taliban -- was markedly different than past deployments to Iraq, Evans said.

"The international community is much more committed than in Iraq," he said. And he felt morale is stronger, partly because the enemy is more easily defined, he said.

"The Taliban kills little girls for going to school," he said. "Who wouldn't be outraged by that? The troops there all want to make a difference."

Evans said there was scant discussion of the general election on the base. When the race concluded in November, he decided to extend his deployment beyond the original 60 days.

But the transition from the campaign trail to the battlefield was "very hard," he admitted.

Running for state office was "one of the most humbling experiences of my life," Evans said, adding that he is proud of his showing against a popular incumbent.

"We had 1,025 people contribute to the campaign, and raised $350,000," he said. "I think we outperformed expectations."

That made the decision to leave in the midst of a tight campaign all the more difficult, Evans said.

"It was the right thing to do, but sometimes doing what you think is right has consequences," he said. "Do I think I would have done better in the campaign than if I hadn't left? Probably.

"But I think everybody back here did the best they could."

There were personal costs beyond the election, Evans said -- his father underwent surgery while he was gone, and had to spend the holiday season apart from his family.

"It was my fifth Thanksgiving and Christmas away in 14 years," he said.

Evans begins a new life chapter on Feb. 20, when he reports to Kulongoski's office as an advisor.

"It's still hard to believe," he said. "I have been blessed with an opportunity to play a small role in fashioning policies that will help our troops."

He is putting politics on hold for the near future, though he said he believes he still "has one or two more races left in me."

"I was excited and humbled by what happened in 2006," he said. "But I'm 36, and I'm not in a rush."