{"id":40460,"date":"2012-05-30T12:10:33","date_gmt":"2012-05-30T18:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=40460"},"modified":"2012-05-30T12:10:41","modified_gmt":"2012-05-30T18:10:41","slug":"evans-made-dona-ana-county-a-better-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2012\/05\/evans-made-dona-ana-county-a-better-place\/","title":{"rendered":"Evans made Do\u00f1a Ana County a better place"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Evans,<\/a>

Evans, shown here at Spaceport America with Virgin Galactic\u2019s SpaceShipTwo, which is being carried in this photo by its mothership, White Knight Two.<\/p><\/div>\n

Former Do\u00f1a Ana County Commissioner Kent Evans helped spark a state audit that set county government on a better track, and his passion for space exploration drove him to champion Spaceport America.<\/h4>\n

Kent Evans<\/a> was one of the nicest people in almost any room he walked into.<\/p>\n

I say \u201calmost\u201d because he got himself into an uncharacteristically nasty battle<\/a> with Jamie Estrada in the 2010 Republican primary for a seat on the Public Regulation Commission. In most other instances I witnessed, Evans was friendly, warm and kind. He held strong views, but he believed all people should be treated with dignity and respect \u2013 even those with whom he disagreed on issues.<\/p>\n

Evans died Tuesday<\/a> after a battle with leukemia. He was 72. He left behind his wife of 49 years Anna Mae, a big family, and an attempt to return to the Do\u00f1a Ana County Board of Commissioners for a third term.<\/p>\n

Evans was slow to anger, but he wasn\u2019t afraid to fight when he felt it necessary. Almost a decade ago he led the charge to expose problems in county government. His efforts helped spark a state audit that revealed a number of issues<\/a>. Ultimately, Evans\u2019 actions helped set county government on a better track.<\/p>\n

But Evans preferred to be agreeable, and most of the time he was. He probably would have appreciated the statement Estrada sent NMPolitics.net on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"Heath<\/a>

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cKent Evans was a proud Las Crucen and New Mexican and, in the later years of his life, was a dedicated public servant,\u201d Estrada said. \u201cHis contributions to the community were many and he will be sorely missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

A passion for space exploration<\/h3>\n

Evans spent his career in human resources and only got involved in politics later in life. He moved to Las Cruces in the mid-1970s and worked for NASA and New Mexico State University. He finished his career as coordinator of employee relations at NMSU from 1995 to 1997.<\/p>\n

He held offices in a number of community organizations including the Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce and United Way, and he chaired Las Cruces\u2019 Whole Enchilada Fiesta four times.<\/p>\n

Space exploration was his passion. Before moving to Las Cruces, Evans worked for NASA in Florida. His campaign website<\/a> states that he \u201cwas a pivotal member of the Apollo Space Program support team from 1966 to 1975, during which time he personally attended every manned launch and served on the Manned Flight Awareness Group.\u201d<\/p>\n

I remember picking up some documents from Evans\u2019 home related to an article I was working on several years ago. He was anxious to show me his space-related paraphernalia. He was almost giddy as he did it.<\/p>\n

So when then-Gov. Bill Richardson started pushing for the creation of Spaceport America<\/a> several years ago, Evans was one of the first to line up behind the project, and Richardson appointed him to the Spaceport Authority. Following a Richardson-led rally in support of a tax increase to help fund the spaceport in early 2007, which came shortly after Richardson launched his presidential campaign, Evans told me he supported the Democrat for president.<\/p>\n

Evans\u2019 endorsement came after I asked him to clarify a statement he made about Richardson during a speech at the rally: \u201cI love him and I think he\u2019s doing a great job. I think he is going to be the next president of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2010, when Estrada hit him in a mailer for the endorsement, Evans told me he had been kidding about backing the scandal-plagued governor from the other political party.<\/p>\n

\u2018Entirely committed to Do\u00f1a Ana County\u2019<\/h3>\n

Evans craved public office for many reasons. He loved serving, he loved making a difference, and he loved being part of the club. So when term limits meant he couldn\u2019t seek another four years on the Do\u00f1a Ana County Board of Commissioners in 2008, he decided to run for a state House seat that was held at the time by Democrat Jeff Steinborn. He didn\u2019t win.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Then Evans sought the PRC seat in 2010, but was unsuccessful. It was his second campaign for the PRC. He also ran unsuccessfully in 2006, when he still had two years left in his term on the county commission.<\/p>\n

This year, Evans would have faced one of three Democrats in the general election who are currently battling for their party\u2019s nomination<\/a> for the county commission seat.<\/p>\n

One of them, Scott Krahling, who succeeded Evans on the county commission in 2009, was quoted by the Las Cruces Sun-News<\/a> as saying he had a profound respect for Evans.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe cared more about Do\u00f1a Ana County than anybody I know,\u201d Krahling said. \u201cEven though he was term limited, he came to every one of our meetings took notes and was interested in what we were doing. He offered unique perspectives and ideas. He was one of those guys who was entirely committed to Do\u00f1a Ana County.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do\u00f1a Ana County GOP Chairman Russell Allen summed up Evans\u2019 legacy well:<\/p>\n

\u201cKent\u2019s work as county commissioner helped make Spaceport America a reality. Do\u00f1a Ana County is a better place because of him.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So it is.<\/p>\n

Haussamen bio<\/a>\u00a0\u2502\u00a0Commentary page<\/a>\u00a0\u2502\u00a0Feed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Do\u00f1a Ana County Commissioner Kent Evans helped spark a state audit that set county government on a better track, and his passion for space exploration drove him to champion Spaceport America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[108,156,112,115,141],"class_list":["post-40460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-2010-election","tag-2012-election","tag-bill-richardson","tag-dona-ana-county","tag-spaceport-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}