Lane Evans

Background

Evans was born in 1951 in Rock Island, Illinois, and attended Alleman High School and Augustana College there. He served in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, stationed in Okinawa. After leaving the Marines in 1971, Evans enrolled at Augustana College in Rock Island, graduating in 1974. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University in 1977 and he started his legal career as an attorney with the Quad Cities Legal Clinic [Mid America Law Offices, Ltd.] in Moline.

In 1982, Evans ran for and won the Democratic nomination for Illinois' 17th congressional district, which included most of Illinois' share of the Quad Cities area. It had been renumbered from the 19th District since Illinois lost two districts after the 1980 census. The district had been in Republican hands for all but two years since 1939. However, the brand of Republicanism that prevailed in the district had traditionally been a moderate one. Evans got a significant boost when 16-year incumbent Tom Railsback was defeated for renomination by the more conservative Republican, State Senator Kenneth McMillan. Taking advantage of hardships from that year's recession, Evans won by around 5 percentage points, and handily defeated McMillan in a 1984 rematch despite Ronald Reagan's gigantic landslide victory that year.

Evans faced almost no opposition in his next four campaigns. In 1994, however, Evans only won by nine points over an unknown Republican who spent almost no money. This emboldened the Republicans for 1996, when Evans faced Mark Baker, an anchor at WGEM-TV in Quincy (the third-largest city in the district). Although Bill Clinton carried the district by a healthy 30,000 votes, Evans defeated Baker by only 5 percentage points. A 1998 rematch was even closer, with Evans only winning by 6,000 votes. A third run by Baker in 2000 saw Evans win by almost 10 points, however. Redistricting after the 2000 census made Evans safer. Decatur and part of Springfield were added while some more rural areas were taken out. The redistricting process, guided by House Speaker and 14th District Congressman Dennis Hastert and 3rd District Congressman Bill Lipinski, solidified the holdings of many Illinois incumbents. Evans was re-elected in 2002 and 2004.

Beginning in 1995, Evans battled Parkinson's disease. While his previous opponents, including Baker, did not make an issue of it, his 2004 opponent, Andrea Zinga (a former anchorwoman at KWQC-TV and WQAD-TV in the Quad Cities) claimed he was not able to fully represent the members of his district due to his health concerns. However, this tactic backfired, and Evans won handily. During his tenure, Evans was one of the most liberal members of the House, and probably Illinois' most liberal congressman from outside Chicago. A founding member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, he had a near-perfect lifetime rating from Americans for Democratic Action, while the American Conservative Union gave him its lowest rating of any congressman outside Chicago.

FEC actions

On June 27, 2005, Evans' campaign committee agreed to pay $185,000 to settle an investigation by the Federal Election Commission. The inquiry stemmed from allegations of illegal coordination between the 17th District Victory Fund, the Rock Island Democratic Central Committee and the congressman's campaign during the 1998 and 2000 election cycles. According to the FEC press release:

The FEC contended that the Evans Committee created the Victory Fund during the 1998 election cycle in order to assist with the Congressman’s reelection campaign. The Evans Committee then largely directed the Victory Fund’s operations during the 1998 and 2000 election cycles. During this period the Victory Fund raised and spent more than $500,000. Congressman Evans and his staff raised a majority of the money contributed to the Victory Fund, including more than $200,000 in labor union treasury funds, which are prohibited in federal campaigns. The Victory Fund spent at least $330,000 on voter identification and get-out-the-vote activities promoting Congressman Evans. The FEC found that these campaign focused activities were so closely coordinated with the campaign that they represented contributions from the Victory Fund to Evans. The contributions exceeded federal limits and included funds from prohibited sources, in violation of FECA.

The Rock Island Democratic Central Committee, for its part, agreed to a civil penalty of $30,000. The penalties were paid without any admission of guilt, but federal judge Joe Billy McDade wrote in the settlement that Evans' personal culpability in the scheme was clear.

Retirement and death

Evans won the Democratic primary in 2006 and was poised for a rematch against Zinga. On March 28, 2006, Evans announced that he would not stand for a 13th term in November 2006. He made a brief return to Washington in June 2006. His withdrawal from the general election left local Democrats with the task of finding a replacement candidate. Their choice was Congressman Evans' district director, Phil Hare, who was elected. In 2007, Congressman Evans' papers and other materials were donated to the Archives and Special Collections Unit at Western Illinois University Libraries.

On November 5, 2014, Evans died at the age of 63 in a nursing home in East Moline, Illinois, of Parkinson's disease.

Electoral history