The Port of Bremerton’s so-called Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) project, you may remember, began life as a golden parachute stitched together by the port commissioners for Tim Botkin after he’d been ousted in 2002 after one lamentable term as Central Kitsap’s county commissioner.

Botkin subsequently collected tens of thousands of dollars in fees as SEED’s nominal manager with little or nothing to show for it — until last February when, perhaps chastened by longtime Port Commissioner Mary Ann Huntington’s decisive defeat at the polls, the remaining commissioners gave port CEO Ken Attebery orders to fire him.

A year later, there are indications Attebery may covet the position as SEED manager for himself. Only his hiring would be an even more audacious gambit on the part of the commissioners than their deal with Botkin.

Attebery, 61, “retired” from his $120,520-a-year CEO post in December with a state pension that pays him $72,000 a year. On top of that, the commissioners voted last week to retain him at a rate of $100 an hour to perform consulting duties for SEED.

But that’s just the beginning. There’s also been speculation that Attebery could be named manager of the SEED project, a move that would enable him to collect his pension in addition to a handsome salary from a nonprofit corporation the commissioners conveniently created to oversee the SEED project.

Interim port CEO Tim Thomson, asked point-blank whether Attebery would be a candidate to replace Botkin in the position, couldn’t rule out the possibility.

“That’s double-dipping,” said Port Commissioner Larry Stokes, vowing to fight any attempt to appoint Attebery.

It would also, by the way, shine a whole new light on the enthusiastic support Attebery has shown for SEED all along.

In any case, if it turns out that’s what Stokes’ fellow commissioners, Bill Mahan and Cheryl Kincer, have in mind, it would really stink.

Then again, what about SEED hasn’t?