Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

He hooked up with a lot of Australians and Canadians as it turned out. Then he got a job in
Commerce, where he met his future wife.
I ran into Frank Murkowski one day, a senator from Alaska and then later governor.
I said to him, “If you’re looking for somebody I’ve got a son who is looking for a job. And
he’s really a good writer.” And he is – he’s a very good writer. And everybody is always
looking for people who write well. Frank said, “Oh, have him come see me.” He ended
up working for Frank for a while. Then I ran into Mark Hatfield, who was a senator from
Oregon but whom we had known as governors. We were at a department store together.
He was looking at men’s clothes and I said, “I’ve got a son who’s looking for a job.” And
he said, “Send him over.” Bruce went over and ended up working as a staff person on
the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee of the Interior, which is Bruce’s field. He loves
that. So he ended up working for several senators, including Slade for a while, and Mark
Hatfield and Ted Stevens, each as they became chair of that subcommittee. He had been
on Interior now for several years, and was the lead Republican staff person. And then
Pete Domenici asked him to come to Energy, which is the other issue he liked. So he went
over to Pete Domenici to be head of that committee staff. Really bright guy, Domenici.
They lived across the street from us. So he did that. And he hadn’t been there all that
long, but he was really liking it because he liked Pete, and he liked the energy issues. His
present boss is a senator from Mississippi, Thad Cochran. Thad said, “I’d like you to be head
of the Appropriations Committee,” the whole committee. So that’s what he is now – the
lead Republican staff committee person on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which
discusses this umpteen-billion dollar budget every year. We all went back especially to see
him because he had this gorgeous office in the capitol, right in the Capitol – chandeliers,
fireplace, you know, looking down the Mall to the Washington Monument and on and on
and on. And then of course the Republicans lost control of the Senate in November, so his
office got moved. But he still has a very nice office.
When we were back there a while ago I was talking to him. I said, “Bruce, you ought
to run for office. You’d be just so great. You’re smart and you’re wise and you’re honest
– all those things.” But they live in Virginia and he said, “Well, the trouble is we’ve got
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