Donald Louis Evans

Shrub's Selection for Commerce Sec'y

Joseph Kahn / New York Times 21dec00

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 — Donald L. Evans, a 54-year-old Texas oilman, likes to say that he has been "cycle tested," whipped by the vagaries of commodity markets and, more recently, by the vicissitudes of the prolonged contest that resulted in George W. Bush, his best friend, winning the White House.

He was strapped in the passenger seat of a faltering Cessna over the Permian Basin in Texas as Mr. Bush, flying himself for the last time, struggled to land the plane successfully. He celebrated Mr. Bush's 40th birthday party in 1986, the one that prompted his friend to quit drinking and change his life. On Election Night, it was Mr. Evans who told Mr. Bush that his Democratic rival had withdrawn his concession and that the election fight would go on.

For weathering such storms and many others over the years, Mr. Evans received his reward today as he was chosen for a Cabinet post in Mr. Bush's administration. It is Mr. Evans' first major government duty. But in naming him, Mr. Bush kept his most loyal supporter at his side in Washington, and continued a tradition of treating the Commerce Department as a place to install stalwart political loyalists.

Mr. Bush effectively acknowledged that today, when he referred to Mr. Evans as "my lifelong friend." He also called Mr. Evans a valuable adviser, and a free enterpriser who understands free trade. But the subtext seems clear: Mr. Bush wants Mr. Evans in Washington, as in Texas and on the campaign trail, when Mr. Evans spent more time with Mr. Bush than anyone outside his family.

Donald Louis Evans was born near Houston, the second of three children. He was raised to be an oilman by his father, who worked as a manager for the Shell Oil Company. When he entered the University of Texas, he studied engineering and returned several years later for an M.B.A., which he received in 1973.

Shortly thereafter he moved to Midland to join Tom Brown Inc., a local oil concern, where he is now chairman and chief executive.

At only 33 in 1979, Mr. Evans became president of Tom Brown, and presided over a boom-and-bust cycle that would might seem familiar to an Internet industry executive today. Before the oil crash of the mid-1980's, Tom Brown had a market capitalization of $2 billion, equivalent to Ford Motor Company's value at the time, with 1,600 employees and investment bankers banging at the door.

A short time later, the stock market thought Tom Brown was worth $75 million. Mr. Evans let go all but 50 employees. Today, the company has 350 workers and is enjoying a bit of a resurgence with the recent spike in oil prices.

It was such ups and downs that led Mr. Evans to pronounce himself "cycle tested," or battle hardened, a trait needed for politics.

Mr. Bush and Mr. Evans met through his wife, Susie, who had known Mr. Bush from grade school. When Mr. Bush came to Midland as a bachelor in search of riches in the oil patch, the Evanses provided a place to watch television, do his laundry and chat about oil.

The two men have never been far apart since then. Mr. Evans is something of a straight man to Mr. Bush's occasional clown, the fund-raiser for Mr. Bush's political ambitions, the sober adviser who steered him to a deeper spirituality.

Whether that close relationship will translate to a substantial policy role for Mr. Evans in Washington is another question.

Mr. Evans said today that his business experience would serve him well at Commerce, which oversees some aspects of trade policy and trade promotions, administers the census, collects statistics on the economy, reviews patent applications and represents business interests abroad.

"Governing, like business, is about setting a course, setting priorities, setting goals and objectives and making the right choices for the right reasons," he said. "The road the Department of Commerce will travel is clear: the promotion of free enterprise, first in America and then abroad, will be our first priority — free flow of capital, free and open competition."

In principle, the commerce secretary has oversight over a wide area of business activity as diverse as the Internet, technology investment, American competitiveness and export policies. In practice, most secretaries have used the office to keep the president in good stead with leading business supporters, while watching most important economic policy decisions be made in other departments. Mr. Evans will have to work to make his job something more.

In 1989, former President George Bush appointed Robert A. Mosbacher, a Texas oilman and his leading fund-raiser, to head the department. Mr. Mosbacher later called the department the "hall closet" of the federal government and suggested that it should be closed.