Substance and style fuel race for Port of Seattle Commission seat

Alec Fisken and Bill Bryant both want to double the amount of cargo that moves through the Port of Seattle. But the two Port Commission candidates differ on how to pursue that goal.

Fisken, the incumbent, has been trying to change the way the Port conducts business since he took office in 2004. He wants to make the Port less reliant on taxpayer support and make shipping companies pay more to lease public facilities on the Seattle waterfront. Fisken also has been an outspoken critic of former Port CEO Mic Dinsmore, calling his tenure autocratic.

Bryant, a first-time candidate, also favors a more open and accountable Port. But he would preserve more of the Port's current business model — such as the Port's countywide tax levy and tenant leases — than Fisken. Bryant argues that Fisken's feistiness has fractured the commission at times and amounted to chronic complaining more than leadership.

The candidates running for Position 5 in the Nov. 6 nonpartisan election differ on several substantive issues, but also in style and their bases of support.

Chief among their differences is the Port's tax levy, roughly $68 million this year, paid by King County property owners.

Fisken wants to phase out the levy, saying ports in other states thrive without such a tax.

A policy analyst for the city of Seattle, Fisken says the levy wouldn't be needed if the Port charged shipping companies more to lease cargo terminals.

He points to the Port's decision to build, at taxpayer expense, a $10 million bridge to connect two terminals south of downtown. Fisken was the only one of the five commissioners to oppose the deal. He argues that one company, SSA Marine, benefited from the bridge and it should have — and would have — paid for it through higher lease rates had the Port insisted.

While he'd like to see the Port increase its cargo volume, Fisken says that shouldn't happen unless the Port cuts pollution belching from ships and trucks into local air and water. The Port can pay for environmental cleanups by charging shippers a fee for every cargo box that moves through Seattle, he contends.

"Most of the cargo is retail imports from China, like lawn chairs for Target. Big retailers know they're going to pay" a container fee eventually, he says. "They just want to be assured it's for specific Port projects and not general government."

All ports on the West Coast would need to agree on such a fee, he adds, so as not to disadvantage any one port.

Bryant, on the other hand, says such a fee is impractical and unlikely.

Unless a fee were imposed at all North American ports, "it would put us at a competitive disadvantage with ports in Mexico and Canada," Bryant says.

An international trade consultant, Bryant sees the tax levy as the best way to pay for environmental and transportation improvements.

Without such a reliable funding source to contribute toward projects such as replacing the aging Alaskan Way Viaduct, Bryant says the Port would lose clout in big transportation decisions. Bryant says the $10 million bridge for SSA Marine was justifiable because shipping companies already pay Port leases that increase 6 percent a year. "We bump them up a lot, they go up 30 percent every five years, in exchange for the fact we'll keep up the infrastructure."

Bryant also sees important stylistic differences between him and the incumbent.

He acknowledges that Fisken has pushed for reform, before and after controversies this year involving a proposed $340,000 severance package for Dinsmore, who resigned last year, and sexually explicit e-mails sent by Port police. Fisken has walked out of closed commission sessions because he says they violated the state's open-meeting law. He also voted against a pay raise last year for Dinsmore.

But Bryant sees Fisken's maverick behavior as contributing to a "dysfunctional" commission. "Alec is very good at knowing what he's against" but he "has not demonstrated any ability to pull together a coalition."

Bryant says he would be better than Fisken at finding common ground with other commissioners and building alliances.

Bryant, 47, has spent almost his entire career on trade-related issues. Fresh out of Georgetown University, he went to work on trade issues for then-Gov. John Spellman. Then he represented Washington state's apple, pear and cherry industries in their exporting efforts. In 1992 he founded a firm, Bryant Christie, that helps companies overcome foreign trade barriers.

According to federal disclosure reports, Bryant and his firm have received more than $1.6 million since 2005 in lobbying fees for clients such as the California Table Grape Commission, the National Potato Council, and the Cranberry Marketing Committee.

Bryant is endorsed by several prominent Republicans, such as former Gov. Dan Evans and former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, and business groups that include the political arm of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. He has raised $248,584 in campaign contributions according to the most recent reports.

Fisken, 59, was publisher of the Seattle Sun weekly newspaper and Marine Digest magazine. He also was vice president at Rainier National Bank and Prudential-Bache. He ran for City Council in 1999 and lost to Jim Compton but was appointed by Compton to head the council's investigation into Seattle's World Trade Organization riots. Since 2002 he has worked as a strategic adviser to Mayor Greg Nickels on City Light finances.

Fisken is endorsed by labor unions, environmental groups and Democrats, including House Speaker Frank Chopp, King County Executive Ron Sims and former Gov. Gary Locke. He has collected $135,470 in contributions.

Fisken admits he doesn't get along with fellow Commissioner Pat Davis and frequently disagrees with Commissioner Bob Edwards. But he maintains he's effective and he's helping to steer the Port in a new direction: "This is a commission in transition. It's going from commission as hood ornament to a functioning oversight body. It's hard, but I think we're nearly there."

Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byoung@seattletimes.com