The Seattle Times is off the mark this morning. Wildly. They’ve got an editorial trying to head off any investigation and perhaps resignation (of Pat Davis) at the port.
Davis, to the outrage of three of her four fellow Port Commissioners, unilaterally signed off on a bloated severance package for former Port CEO Mic Dinsmore.
Even conservative commissioner John Creighton has joined liberals Lloyd Hara and Alec Fisken in publicly denouncing Davis’s weird arrogance. Davis compounded the outrage by saying her fellow commissioners were in fact privy to the deal. Contradicting Davis’s story, Creighton called the Stranger after we did a minor Slog on the scandal last Friday, to announce: “This was not a question of lapsed memory. I was never at a meeting where severance was discussed.”
The Seattle Times, however, comes out for halting any investigation, saying the commissioners should apologize and “get back the people’s business.”
Commissioners!?! No. So far, only one Commissioner owes the public an apology. That’s Pat Davis.
Meanwhile, the people’s business should certainly include a full investigation into Davis’s derelict pledge.
Here’s the original PI story.
Update:
Evergreen Politics weighs in on the Seattle Times tone deaf editorial.
@ 1 -
At least we can vote "these grandees" out, and vote in someone who might do a better job. Compare that to the Sound Transit governing structure. The County Executives get to appoint toadies to that board, and there never are contested elections for those seats. Don't like what ST is up to? Tough titties.
@2,
Right, but that's part of the problem with the SeaTimes editorial. By asking for the apologies of Commissioners plural, they give the impression that reformer Alec Fisken, up for reelection this fall, should be voted out as well.
@2
interesting point, it's almost like Neu music type of drone
problem'apologies'impression'reelection'
plural'editorial'reformer'asking'
continue please.
Once again, the Times takes advantage of the public's lack of knowledge and misconceptions about what goes on in the Port to advance their own agenda (in this case, saving Pat Davis).
For example, in their editorial, they cite some bizarre numbers on compensation for crane operators. This is odd, because the crane operators do not work for the Port of Seattle; they work for the Pacific Maritime Association, which is the representative of all of the private companies that operate in the Port. What these workers earn is outlined in the collective bargaining agreement between the union (ILWU) and the employers (which is on line). In this case, it's called a fucking pension, and it is not two weeks pay for every year served. It's not even a day's pay for every year.
Second, what warehouse jobs? Practically all of them went south.
To compare the Port CEO to blue collar workers is just plain nuts. The Times will sacrifice the truth to advance their own agenda. The Blethens have always hated longshoremen and their union, so rather talk about the danger on the job (a guy was killed last week; it got four paragraphs) they get to use people as fodder for their right wing bullshit.
How many times has Pat Davis been to Blethen's house for dinner, I wonder?
Once again... if I had a SeaTimes subscription I'd cancel it.
I wonder if this means I won't have to listen to Pat Davis welcoming me to the airport any longer?
no, seriously Josh. who's that band? they came after Joy Division, after Bauhaus. oh yeah, a comic book was named after them. yeah, your absurd droning would be fourth-rate lyrics for them. 80s music is getting to be big with the teens these days. you know just how to write in a dumbed down fashion that appeals to them.
There is always the risk a pissed-off public will throw the reformers out with the bathwater.
On the other hand, you've got two reform votes on the five-person board (Fisken, Hara) plus a swing vote (Creighton) who might just have had his eyes opened by this bizarre experience.
And the new CEO appears to be a highly qualified straight shooter who might play a lead role in de-worming the organization Mic built.
Good job on this one Josh. Voters can send a message by re-electing Alec Fisken and by voting for Jack Block Jr. or Gael Tarleton over Bob Edwards, who, you can bet, is on Davis' and Dinsmore's side.
Edwards should be forced to come clean about whether he approves the handout to Dinsmore. If he won't, the voters should remove him.
Josh, whatever you may call the Davis-Dinsmore cash, it isn't "severance".
Severance pay is what goes to laid-off employees, to executives let go by their companies before the end of their employment contracts, to people who are RIFed when corporations merge or are bought out ... situations like that. Dinsmore retired. The stench wafting over the Port Commission is that of a golden parachute, akin to the odious piles of filthy lucre thrown at, say, Cheney (Halliburton) and McGavick (Safeco).
Don't they realize the Era of Big Dinsmore is over?
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as far as i can tell, even a retard like me could do the job of a port commissioner. by the time we vote for these grandees again, everyone will have forgotten her transgressions. who are they beholden to?