Time to clean up dirty port politics

The Port of Olympia is using property taxes to increase profits for a few big businesses and property developers. They do this by providing these companies below market rates on property leases and Marine terminal fees. This leads to the Port operating at a loss of over $3 million every year. This is on top of over $50 million in current debt. This is a corrupt scheme that benefits a few big corporations while County property owners are responsible for an ever increasing mountain of debt.

Current Port commissioner Bill McGregor has led the way on this mismanagement of public money, and his campaign is being bankrolled by big business. His top contributors are logging, developer, and shipping interests, including Holbrook., Brusco Tug & Barge, and SSA pacific, all corporations hoping to profit from McGregor’s election. With the new, unnecessary $3.2 million fuel dock, McGregor has doubled down on using taxpayer money and public debt for projects that serve the few at the expense of the many.

The good news is, two outstanding Port candidates, Bill Fishburn and Ej Zita, running for positions two and three respectively, are committed to cleaning up the Port government. They are not supported by big corporations, but by a grassroots campaign of voters determined to bring fiscal responsibility and better, more open, and accountable government to the commission. Let’s not miss this opportunity to clean up dirty Port politics, and elect leaders who will put the public interest before corporate profits.

This story was originally published September 22, 2017 at 3:32 PM with the headline "Time to clean up dirty port politics."