Port chief made plea to "lower the anger"

In the middle of his first crisis as Port of Seattle chief executive, Tay Yoshitani had a clear goal: Calm the finger-pointing among the Port's five commissioners regarding former CEO Mic Dinsmore's proposed retirement pay.

In an April 22 e-mail to commission President John Creighton, Yoshitani implored him to "see if we can lower the anger before it becomes a feeding frenzy and some of you say things you'll regret in the future."

Yoshitani asked Creighton to "look to what is in the best interest of the Port. We don't want our dirty laundry being aired."

The e-mail, and others about Dinsmore's proposed extra year of pay following his March retirement, were obtained by The Seattle Times through a public-records request.

Yoshitani had been chief executive only five weeks when the dispute over Dinsmore's retirement package erupted April 18. It has been the public's — and the Port's — first opportunity to see how he handles a sticky problem.

The e-mails show he urged that commissioners "agree to disagree" about their conflicting versions of events, rather than escalate the dispute.

He has declined to comment extensively on the controversy and said in a previous interview he prefers to focus on "how it gets addressed."

In an e-mail to Port staff on April 20, after two days of extensive media coverage on the issue, Yoshitani assured employees he was working to "restore the Port's integrity, to take action where it is called for and to return the focus to the good work you do in so many areas every day."

"This storm will pass, and we will work through it together," he wrote.

The controversy began when a memo surfaced in April showing Commissioner Pat Davis had signed off for Dinsmore to receive an extra year of his salary of $339,841 after his retirement.

Ever since the memo became public, commissioners have split over whether they approved, or even discussed, the extra pay in two closed-door meetings last year.

Creighton and Commissioners Alec Fisken and Lloyd Hara say they don't remember those meetings, a position reiterated in the e-mails. Commissioner Bob Edwards has said he remembered "some discussions," while Davis claimed she did not act alone.

Dinsmore's personal notes, on file at the Port, seem to indicate all five commissioners were present for at least one of the executive sessions when the pay was discussed.

Yoshitani and two other employees recognized the additional pay had not been properly authorized before any money was paid to Dinsmore.

In his April 22 e-mail to Creighton, Yoshitani said, "It's inappropriate for me to take sides on whether or not there was discussion and agreement over Mic's post employment compensation."

Yoshitani said Creighton could either empower the commission to "move 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 recollection of the meetings, let's agree to disagree on this point and move forward in a professional and constructive manner,' " Yoshitani wrote.

Creighton disagreed, replying the same day in an e-mail that the dispute required a much stronger response or "I will have failed as a leader in my opinion."

"Even if I ignore [Davis'] executive session 'miss-recollections' [sic], she committed an illegal act in my opinion."

In an April 23 e-mail to Yoshitani, Creighton again reinforced his position on Davis: "She risked my personal and professional reputation, the reputation of all of her fellow commissioners. Whether it was out of a misguided sense of blind loyalty to Mic or something else, it is unacceptable to me."

In an e-mail to Creighton on April 15, before the dispute became public, Hara agreed Davis' actions could be illegal.

Hara also said in the e-mail, "Pat should be admonished" or possibly censured.

Creighton and Yoshitani are traveling in Japan. Creighton said via e-mail he had no comment, and Yoshitani could not be reached.

In a public meeting April 24, commissioners voted unanimously against Dinsmore's extra year of pay and also agreed to begin recording executive sessions.

Following Yoshitani's advice, they also agreed to turn the dispute over to an independent ethics panel. That panel has since asked Terrence Carroll, a retired King County Superior Court judge, to review the issue.

Kirsten Orsini-Meinhard: 206-464-2391 or kmeinhard@seattletimes.com