What Would You Do With $97.2 Million?

If you're the Port of Seattle, you spend it on all kinds of stuff! Woo hoo! It's a mad-money third runway!

A state audit by buzzkill Brian Sonntag indicates that the "Port has wasted $97.2 million in taxpayer money during construction projects and contracts active from January 2004 to March 2007...(P-I)" and helpfully makes "51 recommendations that he said could help the Port avoid waste in the future... (Times)."

The Seattle P-I and Seattle Times are all over the story, reportorial knives drawn.

From the P-I:

Such actions left the Port's construction management "vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse," giving examples such as Port management authorizing a third runway contract at Sea-Tac Airport costing $32.7 million more than the Port engineer's original estimate.

That contract violated state law and details of it were concealed from the elected Port Commission, according to the performance audit released by State Auditor Brian Sonntag.

Port managers were also unaware, we gather, that it's not "due diligence" when you alter documents before handing them over to the auditors. These guys cannot catch a break. You know they were just, you know, like highlighting stuff, clarifying. This is the thanks they get!