Results tagged “tayyoshitani”

Were you as shocked as we were when you heard that there's corruption afoot at the Port of Seattle? Shocked! A $1.3 million investigation into the state of affairs over at the Port of Seattle offices has dredged up ten specific times when employees committed civil fraud. It's not new information, but the investigation does confirm and provide evidence for each case. One guy even used his connections to get his daughter an internship, which is one of those unfair but all-too-commonplace occurrences in this broken, broken world.

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.

Now, you're going to be hearing a lot about ex-Port Chief Mic Dinsmore getting a severance package from the Port of Seattle for retiring with a $107,000/yr pension to go to work for a hedge fund. You may hear that none of the Port commissioners but Pat Davis remembers they all agreed that, you know, it'd be a nice gesture to send Dinsmore off with an "extra" $339,841. Rainy day fund, kinda.

Port of Seattle documents released Tuesday reveal a police chief fearful of a litigious union and overwhelmed by an e-mail scandal engulfing a third of his officers.

Continue reading "Port Police: Depraved Band of Misogynist Rageaholics Or Just Misunderstood?"

In a seismic shift, non-crazy-talker John Creighton will be the Port of Seattle's new president and chairman, as the indefatigable Kristin Millares Bolt reports in the P-I. This just after Tay Yoshitani was announced the new executive director last week.

The Seattle P-I reports that Tay Yoshitani, who will succeed Mic Dinsmore, "was the Port of Seattle Commission's unanimous choice from more than 70 possible candidates generated during a 6-month-long national search." Does this mean he'll help the Port understand that it's not got a monopoly, as Bill Virgin was saying the other day?