Port Of Seattle's Yoshitani Keeps Grace Under Federal Fire At Predecessor

It's the big regional news. Here's the Seattle Times nut graf about the Feds eying the Port for fraud:

The U.S. Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation of the Port of Seattle, following a recent state audit that accused the Port of wasting public money and raised the specter of possible fraud in construction contracts.

And our all-time favorite for sleaze, graft, and stupid, all packed into one shotgun-blast of a summary in the P-I:

The audit found that former Port Chief Mic Dinsmore and Aviation Director Mark Reis broke state law by negotiating a $125 million third-runway embankment contract with a TTI Construction principal at a steakhouse, keeping its cost within the port's procurement policies through cosmetic changes in order to avoid notifying the commission that the sole bid was vastly over the port's estimate -- and leaving the commission of the loop.

Doing multi-million dollar business in a steakhouse! That is so awesome, and just what we've come to expect from Mic Dinsmore. His credibility does nothing but skyrocket every time we hear news about his management style.

In contrast, we are legitimately impressed with Tay Yoshitani's CEO skills. He's committed to bringing the Port into a new cultural future, not scapegoating, as he told the P-I.

"We will be clear on expectations, and if people violated those expectations, we have clear rules going forward, and then we would take severe disciplinary action," Yoshitani said. "But to go back to these people who were working in that environment" -- which he earlier described as "get it done now, worry about the paperwork later" -- "and to take any disciplinary action against them would be, I think, unfair."

That is actual diplomacy in action. Note that he's on record as looking after his staff, and at the same time drawing a stark line between his administration and the "stuffing fistfuls of cash in desk drawers" era. It's refreshing.