Port of Tacoma’s Commissioner, Ted Bottiger, is this year’s Seattle Propeller Club’s Elected Official of the Year Award recipient. The honor, bestowed annually at the Seattle Maritime Festival’s Maritime Luncheon, was presented on May 9 at a luncheon aboard the Royal Caribbean International's Serenade of the Seas. The luncheon was co-sponsored by the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce and the Seattle Propeller Club.
Each year the Seattle Propeller Club recognizes a local elected official whose outstanding work or service has made a significant contribution to maritime commerce in the Pacific Northwest. Bottiger has served as Tacoma’s port commissioner for 12 years and has distinguished himself as a leader in the maritime community as a former Washington State legislator and Senate Majority Leader. He also served on the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation in the 1980s. As
Tacoma Port Commissioner, Bottiger has acted as an ambassador to Alaska and a persistent promoter of the key trading partnership between Puget Sound and the 49th state.