Seattle port commissioner files to overturn recall effort

Seattle port commissioner files to overturn recall effort Embattled Port of Seattle commissioner Pat Davis filed a motion Wednesday asking the state Supreme Court to reconsider its unanimous ruling last month permitting a recall petition against her to be put to King County voters.
   In the filing, Davis' attorney argued that the court was 'inconsistent with prior rulings' in its 9-0 vote, and that the recall does not meet the legal requirements to move forward because the original petition does not cite a specific legal violation in its charge of malfeasance against Davis.
   The recall petition, first in April 2007, accuses Davis of malfeasance in her handling of a memo granting former port Chief Executive Officer Mic Dinsmore about $239,000 in after-retirement salary. Davis, a 13-year veteran of the board, signed the memo authorizing the payment on her own, and the salary agreement was not voted on or approved by the rest of the port board. The full board eventually rescinded the salary authorization to Dinsmore.
   The state Supreme Court's unanimous ruling said the recall petition is 'legally sufficient in charging Commissioner Davis with an act of malfeasance' by signing the memo.
   In the original case before the state court, Davis argued that the port commissions' April 24 public vote rescinding her action regarding Dinsmore effectively 'cured' any harm her action had created.
   In the unanimous ruling, the court turned Davis' argument against her, finding the recall petition's malfeasance charge 'is supported by the record and demonstrated by the fact that the Port Commission had to hold a public meeting in order to undo Commissioner Davis’s contract with Dinsmore.'
   Davis' latest filing, a motion for reconsideration before the court, argues that because the port commission meeting rescinding her action had not occurred when the petition was originally filed, the meeting and vote to rescind cannot be considered in the court's ruling.
   Following the state court's Aug. 14 ruling allowing the petition to move forward, Davis announced she would not seek re-election when her current term expires at the end of 2009.
   The recall petitioner, Chris Clifford, is still required to gather more than 180,000 voter signatures before the recall can be placed on the ballot.
   If Clifford's effort succeeds, Davis would likely be the first Seattle commissioner to ever be recalled, according to port officials.