A Bill Hannan campaign advertisement in Friday’s Peninsula Daily News alleges the Port of Port Angeles has given more than $700,000 in “taxpayer subsidies” to the PRIME topside ship repair company.
Clyde Boddy, the Port’s interim director, said the allegation was wrong.
“No, the Port does not give subsidies to anybody — I don’t know what they are referring to,” said Boddy.
Lynn Mattix, co-owner of PRIME — Pacific Rim Industrial & Marine Engineering — called the ad “the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.”
PRIME is the former employer of Corby Somerville, Hannan’s opponent for Port commissioner in Tuesday’s election.
He called the advertisement “a lie” and a last-minute election ploy.
One of the sponsors of the pro-Hannan ad said it had to do with what he considered to be low berthage rates for PRIME’s ship repair customers.
Hannan said he did not review the ad before it appeared but “did not see anything wrong” with it.
The fifth paragraph of the ad, titled “Taxpayers for Bill Hannan,” said:
“The topside repair companies have received over $700,000 in taxpayer subsidies already this year” and noted that Port commissioners on Oct. 24 withdrew $390,000 out of reserves to balance the Port’s budget.
The ad was sponsored by George Schoenfeldt, the secretary-treasurer of Local 27 of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union, and by longshoremen Tom Bond and Tom Jacobsen and “other Bill Hannan supporters.”
This full report appears in the Sunday Peninsula Daily News Clallam edition, on sale throughout Clallam County. Click on “Subscribe” to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.
