The most corrupt local government agency by far--no contest--is the Port of Seattle. The Port is run by CEO Mic Dinsmore, one of the highest-paid public port CEOs in the country, overseen by a part-time, five-member elected Port Commission. The commissioners have to run for office across all of King County--an expensive proposition for a seat sufficiently obscure that name recognition is almost everything--and they get paid a modest stipend ($6,000 a year, plus all the free luncheons and foreign junkets you can stand) for their part-time work.

It's no surprise, then, that the Port Commission posts attract primarily wealthy retired candidates, people who don't need a salary to live on, and who are often flacks put up by the very industries the Port does business with--the shippers and cruise lines especially. For an individual, running for Port Commissioner is an expensive, money-losing proposition, but for an industry seeking a lot of money in public contracts or corporate welfare, investing in an understanding commissioner who can steer money your way is a very cheap investment indeed. The Port is its own county-wide taxing authority, which means a virtually unlimited pot of public money that can be, and is being, redirected for private enrichment.

Hence, the arrogant, corrupt, back-scratching, public-money-thieving little club that runs the Port of Seattle. Champions of "free" trade and socialism for big corporations.

Until last November, the Port Commission's sole reform member was a one-term environmentalist named Lawrence Malloy, who got elected in 2001 because public disgust with his 24-year-incumbent opponent was so pervasive. In November, voters unceremoniously dumped Malloy in a little-noticed race in favor of John Creighton, an industry-backed candidate who heavily outspent Malloy.

It was only a matter of time before Creighton made his trough-craving presence felt on the Port Commission. Last Thursday, April 6, it happened.

At Thursday's Port Commission meeting, Creighton, safe in his new four-year term, brought up for debate an astounding proposal: to change the Port Commissioner positions from part- to full-time, and raise them in pay from $6,000 a year (plus wink, wink) to as much as what Seattle City Council members make--that is, $97,000 to $100,000 a year.

When was the last time you heard a newly elected politician propose, with a straight face, giving themselves a 1700 percent raise?

Now, in itself, making port commissioners full time and giving them a modestly livable salary could be a good thing; it could allow an ordinary person to support themselves in the post, meaning we might get more non-industry people willing to run for the positions. (Though they'd still face an uphill battle against the money of the Port's entrenched interests.) But the kind of expansion Creighton threw on the table is quite a bit more. It's the sort of money corporate board members pay each other to do nothing, just before they give their buddy the CEO an unconscionable pay package. The Port of Seattle may fancy itself a member of the business elite, and it may in practice operate like a middle school clique, but it is in fact a public agency operated ostensibly for the public benefit. Feathering the nests of Port Commissioners is certainly a benefit, but not to the public.

By comparison, a survey Port of Seattle staff was asked to conduct of 70 other public US ports shows that only a handful pay their equivalent positions more than Seattle currently does (the $6,000 per annum). None approach the levels Creighton threw out. And all this for the only major port on the West Coast that isn't profitable.

With Malloy gone, the only current port commissioner who isn't wholly bought and paid for is Alex Fisken. Tellingly, Creighton chose to unveil his "idea" at a meeting where Fisken was not present.

Neither, of course, was the public.