Evans after firing: ‘Smile on my face’

Meet the new lobbyist asking the Legislature to gut the powers of the state Transportation Board: Gena Evans, whom the board fired last week.

The DOT board terminated Evans on Thursday after 14 months of wrenching change, withering road funds, low employee morale, and occasional scandal. The commissioner runs the day-to-day operations of the $2 billion agency.

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Hyosub Shin/hshin@ajc.com

Gena Evans was fired last week as DOT commissioner.

Evans fired

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On Tuesday, Evans commented publicly for the first time since the board acted.

“Do you not see the smile on my face?” asked Evans, who retained her position as director of the State Road and Tollway Authority.

“It’s been a constant struggle with the board,” she said.

Evans survived confidence votes and constantly had to count her supporters on the board to know if she had a majority, she said.

In addition, she was inundated with board requests about projects, road signs, and other operational issues, as well as requests that she travel to give speeches and meet constituents throughout the state.

DOT Board Chairman Bill Kuhlke said that’s an important part of the DOT’s top job.

“It’s kind of hard not to know about the state without getting around and listening to the people and the concerns they have,” Kuhlke said. “We’re there to get projects done and get the right projects done.”

Evans now plans to spend a good portion of her time working to help Gov. Sonny Perdue push through a reorganization that essentially guts the DOT board’s powers. The plan would create a new State Transportation Authority to choose most highway projects. That authority’s board would be appointed by the governor, the lieutenant governor and the speaker.

Evans said her support for Perdue’s proposal had nothing to do with revenge, but was rooted in the reality that the agency has to change.

“I wish I had been able to get the messages out clearly without so much controversy,” Evans said.

“I really have had a hard time figuring out why doing the right thing has cost so much personal and political capital.”

Realizing that she couldn’t fix DOT was a new and valuable experience for her, she said.

“I think one of the big problems is you elect these people from a local perspective and ask them to think statewide,” Evans said.

She grew personally and professionally in the job, but at a cost.

She’s gone from leading more than 5,000 employees to heading an organization, SRTA, which has 49. Her DOT salary was $175,000 a year. The last SRTA director’s salary was $131,000, though Evans says they “haven’t worked through the details” on what she will be paid. She said she had six private-sector job offers by Sunday night.

Evans’ tenure on the DOT board was controversial almost from the moment she arrived, when her name was Gena Abraham.

The 13-member board was bitterly divided over hiring her, but the chairman, Mike Evans, cast the swing vote that put her in the commissioner’s office.

A few months later, a romantic relationship between Mike Evans and Gena Abraham became public. They married last year.

“The best thing that came out of my 14 months at DOT was Mike,” Evans said. “He’s been so wonderful… This 14 months has been an incredible roller coaster ride. I will tell you 100 percent truthfully, it has made Mike and I a stronger couple.”

She’s come to realize what’s important in life, Evans said. Knowing the board had the votes to fire her, she left, she said, and went to visit her mother in the hospital.