The Port of Seattle Commission announced on Sept. 25 that Commissioners
Tom Albro and Rob Holland have hired legal counsel and an ethics expert to review
the port’s position that CEO Tay Yoshitani serving on the board of directors of
Expeditors International does not represent a conflict of interest.
Those hired by Albro and Holland are: Gerry Alexander, a former
chief justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Washington from 2001 to 2010,
who’s now with the firm of Bean, Gentry, Wheeler & Peternell in Olympia; Russ
Perisho, former partner at Perkins Coie from 1978 to 2008. He’s currently in sole
practice in Poulsbo; and LeeAnn Pelham, former executive director of the City of
Los Angeles Ethics Commission from 2001 to 2011.
On Sept. 11, the Commission unanimously passed a motion requesting
a review and timeline of pertinent events from March 1, 2011 to Sept. 10, 2012 that
led to Yoshitani’s acceptance of the board position with Expeditors, a Seattle-based
for-profit logistics company.
Yoshitani, who has been the port’s executive director since March
2007, was announced Aug. 7 as the newest member of Expeditors’ board of directors.
In the role, he stands to earn more than $230,000 in annual compensation – consisting
of $30,000 in cash and up to $200,000 in restricted stock options – on top of the
nearly $367,000 a year he earns at the port.
The Seattle Port Authority said in August it has found no apparent
conflict of interest in the arrangement.
The outside counsel and ethics expert are expected present their
reports and offer any recommendations for improvements or changes to the port’s
and Commission’s ethics policies during the Commission’s Oct. 23 public meeting.
