Voters will soon decide on a key position at the Port of Seattle Commission, which manages the Port and leads policies that shape the future of one of Puget Sound’s main economic engines.
For Commissioner Position No. 5, King County voters will choose between incumbent Fred Felleman, seeking his third term, and challenger Jesse Tam, a former banker and business leader. Felleman led the primary with 53.4% of votes; Tam received 27.6%.
The winner next month will face challenges that include a jammed airport, competition from other cargo ports along the West Coast and the need to bolster the Port against the effects of climate change.
In interviews with The Seattle Times earlier this month, Tam and Felleman shared how they would address these challenges. Some of the solutions are common between the two. For example, the two candidates see a new airport as a must to address the capacity issues at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
While Tam and Felleman recognize the Port of Seattle needs to become more competitive among West Coast ports, including Vancouver, B.C., their approaches to achieve better speed and lower costs are different.
Tam said his approach would be to work with trading partners on their needs. Being able to speak, read and write in Chinese languages, he said, would give him leverage in working with Chinese businesses.
Felleman said the Port could become more competitive from a climate perspective — if the Port becomes a green gateway, companies can leverage that status as part of their environmental goals. He has been championing environmental causes as Commissioner, including adopting the 2020 Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy, a commitment from the Northwest Seaport Alliance to decarbonize the Port’s cargo-related emissions by 2050.
Felleman and Tam also said they want to boost the Port’s environmental goals. While Felleman, who has been a commissioner for more than seven years, said he wants to continue with his programs and initiatives to decarbonize the Port’s operations, Tam said he would keep the Port’s climate commitments with the help of better money management and budgeting.
Jesse Tam (challenger)
Tam, a retired banker and past chair of the Greater Seattle Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said his main objective is money management.
“I understand how money works,” Tam said. “The Port has a lot of funding, but they haven’t been taking very good care of it, and that will be my No. 1 priority to go into, to do what I can to provide my financial experiences [and] my banking discipline.”
Approximately 59% of the Port’s funds come from operating revenue and fees from businesses and tenants leasing its facilities. These fees could include marine terminal leases, real estate and tenant leases at Port facilities, airport landing fees, passenger fees and moorage fees at marinas.
The Port’s total operating revenue in 2023 was $953.7 million, nearly 25% higher than in 2022, according to its 2023 budget brief.
Originally from Hong Kong, Tam, 70, said he moved to the U.S. in 1971 with only $300, and he built a career in finance and business after graduating from Boise State University.
Tam said he would apply his skills in sticking to budgets and making deals that would benefit the Port. One of the examples of how the Port’s budget management could improve, according to Tam, was the budget for the Sea-Tac international terminal in 2018. It increased from $608 million to nearly $1 billion while being eight months behind schedule.
Better money management can also help the Port stick to its climate commitments including the Pacific Northwest to Alaska Green Corridor, a route with zero climate and air emissions, Tam said. To carry out these commitments, it takes funding for research, he said.
“I literally have [been] my whole entire life preparing for this job,” Tam said in an interview. “I am so ready to go in there and do what I can to put the Port back in the right direction, what the Port should be as an economic engine and a job creator.”
The Port helps to support over 216,000 jobs and $7 billion in wages throughout the region.
Tam said he also will work to attract young people to Port jobs through training, internship and apprenticeship programs, and advancement opportunities.
Tam received about $62,262 in contributions and reported about $46,413 in expenditures as of Friday, according to the Public Disclosure Commission. Donors include the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, Washington Chinese American PAC and Jon Zimmerman, who is listed as the CEO of Cascade Pacific Logistics.
Endorsements: ATU Local 587, former Washington State Gov. Gary Locke, King County Assessor John Wilson, Bellevue Mayor Lynne Robinson, Sen. Claire Wilson, Rep. Jamila Taylor, Renton City Councilmembers Ruth Perez-Ralston and James Alberson, former King and Seattle Councilmember Jan Drago, former Seattle Councilmember David Della and Hong Kong Business Association of Washington.
Fred Felleman (incumbent)
Felleman says his focus is commerce, community and climate.
“If you have some seasoned background, you’re more willing to push policy that would be seen as challenging,” Felleman said in an interview.
Previously a marine biologist, Felleman, 63, was first elected Port commissioner in 2016. He said he has been responsible for several environmental initiatives for the Port.
His initiatives include solar cells at the Fishermen’s Terminal roof, the Century Agenda — which outlines strategies for the Port to become the greenest and most energy-efficient port in North America with specific greenhouse gas reduction targets — as well as the Energy and Sustainability Committee.
Felleman co-chairs the Sustainability, Environment and Climate Committee with Commissioner Toshiko Grace Hasegawa. The committee provides “information, advice and recommendations to inform commission policy development in pursuit of the Port’s Century Agenda environmental and sustainability goals.”
He said his third-term goal is to continue reducing the Port’s carbon footprint with state and federal funding for clean energy projects; promote innovation, apprenticeships and internships to attract a younger workforce to Port-related jobs; and expand partnerships for projects to protect orcas and increase ecotourism.
Recently, Felleman was involved in the $33 million project to renovate the Ship Supply Building at Fishermen’s Terminal so nonprofit Maritime Blue could run an incubator program for startups in the maritime industry.
Felleman’s involvement with Maritime Blue became the focus of an investigation by the Port of Seattle’s Board of Ethics. The board found Felleman broke the ethics code by using his position to gain special privileges or exemptions so he could join the leadership of Maritime Blue’s Quiet Sound program.
In a statement released after the Board filed its findings, Felleman said he sought to attend the meetings because he wanted to ensure the program was successful and had no financial interest in attending the meetings.
Felleman said the next term would see “unprecedented levels of funding,” especially for the decarbonization of Port infrastructure.
The Port proposed the largest five-year capital plan in its history in its preliminary 2024 budget, intending to spend $5.6 billion across aviation, maritime and economic development facilities and $210.4 million with the Northwest Seaport Alliance “to ensure that our gateways meet the operational and sustainability demands for today and into the future.”
For fiscal year 2024, the Port proposed a $2 billion budget funded through its revenues, proceeds from bonds, passenger facility charges and tax levies, among other sources. The adoption of the 2024 budget is scheduled for Nov. 21.
“I couldn’t have tried any harder,” Felleman said in the interview. “If people think that there is somebody else who could do a better job, at least they see what I did.”
Felleman received about $81,345 in contributions and reported about $72,579 in expenditures as of Friday, according to the Public Disclosure Commission. Donors include Amazon, Delta Air Lines, Washington State Democrats, Puget Sound Pilots PAC and ILWU Local 19.
Endorsements: Attorney General Bob Ferguson, Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, County Executive Dow Constantine, County Councilmembers Claudia Balducci, Rod Dembowski, Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Joe McDermott, Dave Upthegrove and Girmay Zahilay, City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, The Seattle Times Editorial Board, Washington Conservation Action, King County Democrats, labor unions and business leaders.
King County ballots are due by 8 p.m. Nov. 7.
This article was updated to correct Jesse Tam’s position with the Greater Seattle Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Tam is past chair of the Greater Seattle Chinese Chamber of Commerce.