The new boss at the Port of Seattle is wasting no time
Tay Yoshitani shows a worrisome desire to not air "our dirty laundry," but he's also showing smarts in early moves as CEO of the Port of Seattle.
So what have we learned so far about Tay Yoshitani, the new chief executive at the Port of Seattle? The early signs are mostly good, based on his handling of a police controversy and a civil war that erupted on the commission.
On the plus side, since arriving in March, Yoshitani has wasted no time establishing his authority. He's making decisions, getting messages to port employees, calming commissioners, and sending a signal that he will hold people accountable. He's establishing leadership but not in the overbearing way that critics saw in his predecessor, Mic Dinsmore.
On the negative side, Yoshitani shows a desire to keep certain matters out of the public eye. "We don't want our dirty laundry being aired," he wrote in an April 22 e-mail to a commissioner.
That's always worrisome in a public official, but especially so at the port, which keeps saying that openness is now the rule. Yoshitani needs to take steps to show where he is on the glasnost question, or baggage from the past and unkept promises from the present will land on him.
Yoshitani, 60, was selected unanimously by commissioners who found a candidate almost too good to be true. Though other candidates might have been successful running an airport or a seaport or developing real estate, Yoshitani had done it all at the ports of Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Oakland. For added luster, he's a West Point graduate with an MBA from Harvard. And for pure sentiment, you can't beat the story of his first visit to Seattle, in 1954 at age 7 as an immigrant from Japan.
I met Yoshitani in April and found him to be a dramatic departure in style from Dinsmore. Where Yoshitani is understated, outwardly gentle in demeanor, and wears a suit that looks straight from Nordstrom Rack, the burly Dinsmore was a snappy dresser who was assertive, charming, and given to handshakes that almost caused bruising.
Yoshitani faces some big issues, such as addressing cost issues at the airport, squeezing better returns from terminal leases, getting clarity around the port's land development ideas, and building confidence in the port's use of the property tax levy. But perhaps his biggest challenge is the commission itself, which is sharply divided over its role and policy issues.
This week, Yoshitani did his best to close out a scandal involving nine Port of Seattle police officers caught sending racist and pornographic e-mails using work accounts. The episode gave an impression of a leaderless police department and sloppy oversight by port headquarters, events that predated Yoshitani's arrival.
According to Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Kristen Millares Bolt, the port spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on outside consultants to find what had gone wrong. This week, Yoshitani blamed port leadership but did not name names. He created a new internal oversight commitee to make sure the problem does not re-occur. If anyone at headquarters did wrong, that would be handled in future performance reviews, he said.
The other problem involved his bosses, who publicly criticized each other after Yoshitani himself put a hold on a severance package proposed for Dinsmore. The package included 40 weeks of salary, or $261,416, following Dinsmore's last day – in addition to his $107,000 annual pension. (Talk about The Sweet Hereafter.)
The Dinsmore deal created weeks of scandal over whether Commissioner Pat Davis had improperly approved it, or whether other commissioners just forgot discussing it. As the controversy flared, commissioner Jack Creighton suggested that Davis resign.
Yoshitani sought calm.
Writing to Creighton, Yoshitani tried to sell a pathway out of the crisis. First, the deal with Dinsmore was dead. "I think this is pretty easy because I don't see much support. ... I have a motion I hope you all will support. Thirdly, we need to discuss how to keep matters discussed in confidence from getting to the press."
Yoshitani wanted an end to the headlines, suggesting that continued rancor would damage the port itself. He even hinted at his own impatience. "If we can't get beyond this point, I don't think the Commission will be able to function going forward."
The most interesting part of the e-mail was Yoshitani's attempt to offer Creighton some personal advice and a script for his public statements:
John, I think this will be the first real test of your leadership. You are in a position to move the Commission forward in a positive direction or let it spiral out of control. You are the one that can step up and say, "we have differences in our recollections of the meetings, let's agree to disagree on this point, and move forward in a professional and constructive manner." You need to find a way to get past your anger and look to what is in the best interest of the Port. We don't want our dirty laundry being aired. Let's resolve things amongst you give Commissioners. Let's get this thing behind us.
He encouraged Creighton to meet in his office with Davis and together "lower the anger before it becomes a feeding frenzy." And they did, pretty much. The Dinsmore controversy faded, though Davis faces a recall campaign because of her actions. A retired judge has been asked to review what happened and suggest reforms.
In just a few months, Tay Yoshitani has dealt with two episodes of severe organizational chaos, a governing board ready to implode, and a police department in turmoil.
All that in just four months.
He wants to see the best and get the best from port employees. That's his style. Give me some time, he seems to say. You can't help but wonder if he's glad he got the job.
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Comments:
Posted Fri, Jun 15, 9:54 a.m. inappropriate
We need transparency in the Port: I would hope the new Port CEO, Tay Yoshitani, would not attempt to silence commissioners from airing their dirty laundry. Clearly there are personnel issues and some details relating to bids or contracts that by common sense or law are protected from disclosure, but all of us are obligated as citizens, and I hope commissioners are as well, to report wrongdoing that would ultimately have the same effect as stealing from the public.
We choose democracy as an alternative to the more efficient dictatorship because we expect to be able to have the benefit of a wide range of opinions. I would hope Port commissioners along with council members and school boards to argue openly in public over critical issues and maybe even publish their written opinions as is common in our higher courts. Any elected official unwilling to take responsibility for their position isn't worthy of the office.
Differences don't cripple this port or this nation, but secrecy does. A CEO who might attempt to silence those they must work with demonstrates their weakness not their strength. Like wise a board or commission that believes them must vote as a block to maintain appearances or the support of the public do more to suppress public support than gain it.
I have the notion that Tay Yoshitani is a much bigger man than one who would attempt to silence those who differ with him.
Posted Sat, Jun 16, 7:26 a.m. inappropriate
dirty laundry: Tay's use of the "dirty laundry" metaphor was in reference to the commissioners personal dislike and contempt for one another. Their behavior is unprofessional and creates an environment that is impossible to do business in. Yoshitani was merely giving port commissioners a well-deserved public spanking for their childish ways.
Casey Corr knows the difference between mud slinging and real news coming from the mouths of petty port commissioners who have an ax to grind. I hope he continues to take the high road on Port reporting.
Posted Sat, Jun 16, 9:48 a.m. inappropriate
Winds of Change at the Port of Seattle: These emails really aren't that newsworthy of "news", and yet you have three wildly different takes on them by three different publications - the Times, PI and now Casey Corr with Crosscut.
Kinda makes you wonder whether the haughty news media's support of public disclosure really is all about lofty sounding principles such as "truth and justice." I suspect it's really much more about the media preying on prurient interests to put money in their own pocketbooks.
Regarding the severance pay scandal, I disagree with Stambor. Trying to stuff a big paper sack full of dollar bills into the former CEO's back pocket on his way out is completely inappropriate for a public agency. I think it's understandable that the other commissioners would be really pissed off if one of their own tried to go behind their backs to slip the outgoing CEO the money.
That amount - $261,000 - is a lot of money in my book. I for one am happy that there are at least some commissioners watching out for us little people, and not just rubber stamping deals cut for the executive staff's cronie friends.
But the good news is that we have a new CEO who seems like a really good guy. He seems much more about building an institution that truly serves the region than what the last CEO was about: strutting around in designer suits at CEO conferences, racking up expense accounts at the Rainier Club and the Ruins, and handing out sweetheart deals to croney business associates.
And it is also very good news that we have commissioners willing to speak out in public when they see malfeasance at an institution that they were voted in to oversee as the public's watchdogs.
So, snaps all around to the new CEO and the commission that chose him, and let's get some real reporting on issues of keeping our port competitive at a time when other ports are spending like crazy to build/upgrade facilities and take our lunch away.
Posted Sat, Jun 16, 6:04 p.m. inappropriate
Speak for yourself Sierra Girl: Sierra Girl:
I disagree with you on what you said I said. First you miss-stated (in fact, fabricated out of nothing) my position. Then you argued against my position as you said I stated it.
I articulately expressed my opinion on the severance package issue on April 20. You can search the Crosscut archives to find out where I stand on this issue.
Thanks for trying, but I can speak and write for myself. patricia stambor
Posted Sat, Jun 16, 7:36 p.m. inappropriate
i have a slightly different take: maybe mr. corr ought to have checked with some folks in what passes as "the city" hereabouts to check what kind of good old boy Tay Yoshitani really is. a list of prior jobs does not really do the trick as probing reporting goes.
as to mr. dinsmore. i interviewed him at great length around the time of the last election for commissioner, and i have interviewed nobel prize winners, and usually they like to open up to me, as did mr. dinsmore [but knute berger, then of the seattle weekly did not even have the courtesy of exercising the first refusal rights i offered him] and found Mic the Great to be a character worthy of an American novel, but evidently not a tragedy. unusually seigneural. especially considering his origins in the butt of the american industrial wasteland. a lunch whose tab cost the port a mere $ 40, for three. it appears that toward the end of his tenure he was rather hand's off as a manager, but played the making of deals in Asia close to his vest, as i would, too, I must say, not only with a board of overseers such as the by and large fine bunch like the current crop [my favorite is alec fisken, and i think john creighton and lloyd hara are fine, too; bob edwards i have not to come as well as i ought to have; the foxy lady appears to be a bag lady for what joel connelly calls croney capitalism, but who knows, perhaps crony capitalism nepotism is best for seattle??? which exerts its efforts through p.a.c.s; pacs for port commissioner races, good grief!!] but faced with the slug processor just imagine having that shibboleth "transparency" vet a big contract for a shipping line to make the port of Seattle its American home port. ah me gawd, it would be like the building of a fourth runway.