Maybe The Port Will Build The Sonics A New Stadium

Seattlest regrets there isn't a "Delete All" button when it comes to Port leadership.

One of the Port of Seattle's organizational objectives is to "Enhance Public Understanding and Support of the Port's Role in the Region." Now the State Auditor's office has found that the Port could not "demonstrate the appropriateness of certain expenditures, made inappropriate expenditures and paid vendors in advance of receiving services." They may want to rethink just how much the public understands what they're up to if they want support.

The Seattle P-I jumped on the story early, and the Seattle Times followed up today:

The report cited $300,000 the Port paid to sponsor the Pacific Rim Sports Summit. The Port misbooked the sponsorship as a contract, when no contract was signed, and didn't get the money back when the event was canceled, the audit said. The Port is trying to recover the money.

The report also cited $5,000 given to the Seattle School District to sponsor a basketball tournament, $3,000 to the Bellevue Boys & Girls Club, $2,000 to the Salmon Homecoming Alliance for its annual celebration and $2,000 to the National Wildlife Federation to sponsor a habitat fair in Tukwila.

In response, the Port Chief Executive Mic Dinsmore place a hold on all contributions. Not in response to the findings themselves, which were brought up by a 1999 Auditor's report and reiterated in 2003. He had nothing to say about why the Port pre-paid vendors to the tune of over a half-million dollars. Neither did he apparently comment on how personally embarrassing it must be to have been a member of the committee that couldn't return the Port's $300,000 when the Pacific Rim Sports Summit was canceled.

The Port's mission statement is "Creating economic vitality here." You wouldn't guess from that statement that what they actually do is manage Seattle's airport and seaport, and attempt to bring trade through those ports without having it flee south to Tacoma. Well, they probably paid for that before they saw it.