After 8 Years, Incumbent Faces Challenge in Primary

By Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

D.C. Council member Jack Evans has an unofficial campaign slogan in his reelection bid: "I'm running on youth and energy."

After he says it, he almost always laughs.

Evans, 54, won the Ward 2 seat on the council more than 17 years ago, making the Democrat one of the longest-serving members. His colleagues credit him with being one of the most knowledgeable members, serving as chairman pro tem and heading the influential Committee on Finance and Revenue.

It is the kind of longevity that can make an incumbent comfortable while simultaneously leave him open to a young and ambitious opponent, such as lawyer Cary Silverman. He is Evans's first challenger in a primary, scheduled for Sept. 9, in eight years.

Silverman, 32, is president of the Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association. He also is a scrapper, as he showed last week in a debate with Evans. The incumbent, who has more endorsements than does Silverman, also has more in campaign funds, $500,000, to Silverman's $40,000.

Silverman questions how Evans can hold down a full-time job as a lawyer while being a public servant, why he has pushed big-ticket, taxpayer-funded projects, such as Nationals Park, and why he was unable to help stop the $50 million embezzlement from the Office of Tax and Revenue. Evans oversees the office as chairman of the finance committee.

"People say he has experience," Silverman said in an interview. "The record is there are massive giveaways and a lack of oversight."

Observers said, however, that Evans has lasted in office because many residents respect him as a council leader and because he knows how to adapt to political circumstances. He hit back at Silverman at the debate sponsored by the Dupont Circle Citizens Association. Evans, a former candidate for mayor, said he has a lot to offer the city during its period of rapid change: "Experience."

He defends his record and praises staff members for helping him serve as a council member and as a consultant at his law firm while being a single father to 11-year-old triplets. Evans is a widower who lives in Georgetown.

Evans talks about how Verizon Center, which he championed a decade ago, has been an economic catalyst for Ward 2, and he said he has not forgotten ward projects, including recently renovated recreation centers and plans to refurbish neighborhood libraries.

Northwest's Ward 2 is the city's second-most affluent ward, behind Ward 3. It has diverse neighborhoods, including tony Georgetown, gay-friendly Dupont Circle, Penn Quarter downtown and pockets of low-income communities, such as those in Shaw.

The ward, which includes downtown Washington, has served as the hub of the city's revival. Problems remain, though, especially in Shaw, where Evans has tried to combat crime.

Despite Evans's boasts about rec centers and libraries, there is outcry from many in the ward for more focus on neighborhood projects, which Silverman has used to gain momentum. He has tapped into community activists and others upset with Evans about ward issues, such as Evans's initial support of the sale to a private developer of the West End Library branch, a fire station and surrounding land.

Silverman has used his campaign to reach out to new voters and said, if elected, he would focus on neighborhood projects and be attentive to constituent services. Evans also has been knocking on doors, introducing himself to those new voters.

Silverman also has zeroed in on the tax scandal, questioning Evans's handling of the financial issues.

Evans said in an interview that he took charge after the embezzlement was discovered by getting consultants to review the scandal and interview workers. He said the biggest problem has been a culture of silence since among tax employees.

Some community leaders said privately that Silverman might not have the organization to win but that he has shown that Evans is vulnerable. Evans is facing more questions than ever, but how they translate at the polls is another issue.

Since his election in 1991, Evans has seemed unbeatable, with no one stepping up in the primary, which in the Democrat-dominated city can often be the real contest. This year, he has won all major endorsements, including nods from Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D).

"There is a bit of a 'youthquake' out there bubbling," said Joel Lawson, president of the Dupont Citizens Association, who said he is remaining neutral publicly. "Cary is working incredibly hard. He's a very nice and smart new person on the scene. . . . But Jack has been very quick to embrace new technologies and new ideas."

During an interview at the John A. Wilson Building, Evans displayed two BlackBerrys, which he slid down a table like air hockey pucks.

"I have two . . . one black, one silver," he said.

The BlackBerrys are not just about technology -- they are about political adaptability. In the 2006 campaign for mayor, Evans supported then-Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp against then-Ward 4 Council member Fenty. Evans criticized Fenty for being tethered to his BlackBerry and unengaged during council meetings.

"Given his council performance, I did not think he had a grasp on being mayor," Evans said. "I'll be the first to admit that was not the case."

Fenty said Evans has a finance background the city needs. "It's an institutional knowledge . . . and a sense of urgency," he said.

Fenty brushed off Evans's previous criticism as part of politics. "I get more upset with people who try to have it both ways. . . . You always know where he stands."

Evans now stands with Fenty, particularly on the schools takeover. Fenty is approaching the government much the way Evans said he would have had he won the mayor's race in 1998, Evans said.

Evans grew up in Nanticoke, Pa., with an older sister. His father was a florist, and his mother was a teacher, he said. "It was 1950s, 1960s small-town America," he said. "People really did yell at you from the porch and your mother told you to go out and just be home before dark."

He attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, then moved to the District in the 1970s. "Seventy-six. It was the best summer of my life," he said. "I was making $125 a week, which was a lot of money back then. Rent was $85 a month."

Evans took a job at the Securities and Exchange Commission. He received his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh and went into private practice in 1984. By then, he had helped found the Ward 2 Democrats and became active in Dupont Circle, where he lived at the time.

Silverman, who grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., has a similar path. He has a brother. His mother is a homemaker, and his father earned his doctorate in computer science at night school.

"It was a multiethnic neighborhood," said his father, Ronald Silverman. "He learned to deal with all kinds of people, all kinds of problems."

Cary Silverman worked at Fayva, a discount shoe store, and became manager at 17. At the State University of New York at Geneseo, he was elected class president and student government president. "Once I got in, I got addicted" to politics, he said.

Silverman moved to the District to attend law school at George Washington University and now is part of a small law firm.

After he began working as a lawyer, Silverman lived in Logan Circle. Then he moved to Mount Vernon Square, where he appears to have a strong support base, along with Foggy Bottom.

As for major endorsements, the kind that bring money and heft, how many? "Um, none," he said, adding that he has youth, energy and money that can pay for signs and mailings. "I have enough to be competitive."

Staff writer Michael Birnbaum contributed to this report.