Port gets catcalls, support at hearing on harsh audit

In a testy public hearing, dozens of speakers reacted Tuesday to a scathing state audit of the Port of Seattle, including anti-tax activist Tim Eyman, who said he was likely to craft a citizen initiative to eliminate the Port's property-tax levy.

About 200 people packed the Port Commission's chambers for the afternoon hearing on the state's performance audit, which was authorized by Initiative 900, the Eyman-sponsored measure approved by voters in 2005. Speakers were almost evenly divided between Port critics and supporters, though most who spoke favorably were contractors, consultants and labor-union representatives who did business with the Port.

The most dramatic moment of the public hearing occurred before it actually started.

The five elected commissioners spent the first 90 minutes of the meeting talking about reforms they intended to pursue in the wake of last month's audit, which blasted the Port for wasting $97 million, skirting competitive bidding rules, mismanaging construction contracts and concealing important information from the commission. The U.S. Justice Department announced Monday it was going to investigate the Port for criminal activity.

Commissioner Patricia Davis took a different tack than her colleagues, though, disagreeing with the auditor's claim that the Port wasted most of the $97 million on contracts to build a new runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Davis maintained the Port hadn't wasted money by hiring consultants instead of employees — as auditors contended — and she said it wasn't "taxpayer money," but "basically grants" from the federal government and fees collected from airlines.

That provoked catcalls from the crowd, and Eyman jumped from his seat, approached the commission and shouted: "Stop stalling. You need to hear from citizens."

When Eyman did testify, he said a couple who had come from Anacortes to speak left because the four-hour meeting was running so long. Eyman said that was symbolic of the Port's problems. "Your priority is yourselves. You wanted to preen. This is a poster child for how not to do a I-900 hearing."

He went on to say there was a "very strong likelihood" he would try to put an initiative to voters next year to wipe out the Port's tax levy, which collected $69 million from King County property owners last year. The initiative also would make sure the audit's key recommendations were carried out, Eyman said.

He wasn't the only one with harsh words for the Port.

Bob Williams, president of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a conservative think tank, said he read the 334-page audit four times and was incensed by it.

He slammed Port CEO Tay Yoshitani's pledge to hire an outside investigator to look for fraud at the Port. "We don't trust the Port staff. We don't trust who the Port hires," Williams said.

Stuart Jenner, of Normandy Park, criticized another Port initiative, a new fraud hotline to collect tips from whistle-blowers. Jenner said he called the hotline (877-571-5237) to see how it worked, asked the operator what would happen with information he might have, and was told only that a tip would go to Port headquarters. "It's not going to do good at ferreting out the truth," he said.

Charles Rolland, of Seattle, executive director of the Black Builders' Association, said he was disturbed by the audit's finding that two companies received 87 percent of the $3 million the Port awarded in small electrical contracts in 2004. "That limits opportunities and deters other contractors who don't even bid for work," Rolland said.

Commissioners and Yoshitani stressed that they agreed with most of the audit's recommendations and would implement them.

Commissioners also approved several proposals aimed at increasing transparency in Port operations. They voted unanimously to:

• Create a subcommittee to study how to expand the commission's oversight powers.

• Require the staff to provide detailed quarterly reports on construction projects with costs of at least $10 million.

• Require Yoshitani to provide quarterly reports on the Port's response to the audit.

"We take these audit recommendations very seriously," said Commission President John Creighton, "and we've only begun to listen to the people of King County."

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