Miller, Davis earn new terms with Port

Incumbent Port of Seattle Commissioners Paige Miller and Pat Davis deserve re-election.

For many voters, the single issue that will decide whether to mark the ballot for or against Miller and Davis is the third runway project at Sea-Tac Airport.

Miller and Davis are for it. Against it are Andy Kleitsch, running against Miller, and Christopher Cain, running against Davis. Each challenger implies in the Voters Pamphlet that the runway is being paid for by King County taxpayers. It is not. The money comes from airport user fees and a federal fund — and in any case, the runway is needed.

There are several minor candidates whose qualifications don't bear scrutiny. Anthony Devino, running against Miller, boasts in the voters guide that he "started his own successful transportation business, which has daily interaction with the Port." Well, yes — a limo service. Al Yuen, running against Davis, says his past presidency of the Seattle Chinese Chamber of Commerce qualifies him to "expand trade with our biggest trading partner, China." Actually trade development is not what commissioners mostly do. Nor is China this state's No. 1 trading partner. Japan is.

Jake Jacobovich of Vashon Island, running against Davis, is the most serious challenger. A King County employee, Jacobovich is an active Democrat who promises "a collaborative partnership with labor."

At the moment, the Port is embroiled in a dispute with labor: two unions, the operating engineers and the electricians, share the maintenance work on the Port's cranes. At competitive ports, it is done with one union, for considerably less money. All the Port's commissioners, including Jack Block, a union member, want the work here to be done by one set of workers. Jacobovich defends the use of two, which is a defense of featherbedding.

Miller, a Yale-educated lawyer, has a sharp mind for details, is politically savvy and is fully engaged.

Davis is quieter, more collaborative in style but just as well-educated (Stanford) and thoughtful. Eighteen months ago, it seemed a liability that Davis co-wrote the letter inviting the World Trade Organization to Seattle, but it has not been a major campaign issue, nor should it be.

Miller and Davis, each elected in the late 1980s as community activists, have a clear understanding of the interests of the public, shippers, labor and the needs of the Port. They bring institutional memory to the five-member body, which includes two relatively new members.