ENDORSEMENTS: Bacon, Marzano, Meyer for Port of Tacoma

The blows to the Port of Tacoma just keep on coming.

Three months ago, when the editorial board endorsed Commissioner Connie Bacon�s re-election for lack of a better option, we noted that the port has had quite a run of misfortune and missteps. Mostly the latter.

The port plunked down $21 million in 2006 to buy land near Maytown for a rail yard, assuming that its foray into Thurston County would be treated as deferentially by the locals there as the port�s projects are here at home. Wrong.

Then, after port officials were successful in luring NYK Line here from the Port of Seattle, they discovered that they had underestimated the cost of developing the Blair Waterway for NYK and others by 50 percent.

Last week, the port halted the project after spending $190 million on property, design work, staff time and environmental preparations. NYK will now call at an existing terminal.

Given all that, this would seem the year to toss port incumbents who failed to exercise the kind of oversight that could have prevented such fumbles. We might have recommended voters do just that, had we been impressed with the alternatives.

In Bacon�s race, she is running against Bill Casper, who has 40 years of experience in engineering port-related projects.

It sounds promising on paper, but Casper has difficulty translating his experience into practical, workable ideas. He continues to be focused on his plan to create a system to screen containers for nuclear materials, even as he admits it probably can�t get the government funding it needs.

Casper says he wants to be something of an engineering adviser to port staff. He recently asked the port to hire his engineering firm, saying the port�s engineering staff �have been decimated by the economic tsunami. Our small engineering firm is . . . flat out of work for the same reasons.�

Bacon, the former executive director of the World Trade Center Tacoma, acknowledges that the commission needs to do a better job. She knows the lay of the land after 12 years on the commission, giving her the best shot at effecting change � and no excuses if she doesn�t.

Same goes for Dick Marzano, the incumbent in Position 2. He�s a veteran longshore union member whose connection with the union has proved a major asset in helping maintain the port�s productive partnership with organized labor.

His opponent is Charles Kelly Creso, the former president of the Tacoma Arts Commission, a past candidate for Tacoma City Council and a real estate investor-manager. Creso declined our request for an interview. Judging from what we do know of Creso, he wouldn�t be a trade up from Marzano.

Even with Bacon�s and Marzano�s re-elections, voters would be guaranteed some fresh blood on the port commission. Position 3 is up for grabs due to longtime commissioner Ted Bottiger�s decision to not run for re-election.

Don Meyer, the retiring executive director of the Foss Waterway Development Authority, is the clear choice here. He�s experienced and knowledgeable about the port, having worked as the port�s deputy executive director for 14 years before joining the waterway authority.

Meyer is critical of both the Maytown and NYK deals, saying not enough legwork was done upfront to understand the risks and potential costs, nor was the public given enough information to evaluate the plans for itself. He says the port needs to move beyond its reliance on containers and make better use of its land holdings. One of his ideas is to open up the east side of the Foss Waterway to small water-dependent businesses like boat building.

In contrast, his opponent, former Pierce County Auditor Cathy Pearsall-Stipek, knows very little about the port and admits as much. She bills herself as a change agent, but Meyer is more likely to have an actual impact.