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Oakland Port audits: questionable spending An internal audit of 2011 expenses was already under way in October when news emerged that the port's executive director, Omar Benjamin, and maritime director, James Kwon, inappropriately spent $4,537 at a Houston strip club in 2008. While port executives say it's not unusual for workers to wine and dine potential clients - and even hand out promotional items like key chains - the internal audit found that $194,087, or roughly 10 percent of all credit card expenses in 2011, failed to meet proper spending and disclosure guidelines. Additionally, the audits found that port employees spent $67,404 in gifts and giveaways that may have violated federal bribery laws and state gift laws. The gifts included $19,493 in wine and liquor, $11,397 in Tiffany silver key rings and $1,683 for U2 concert tickets for port staff, a port tenant's staff and four personal guests. Flint and the port's Board of Commissioners, which released the audits on Monday, said they initiated the audits as a way to build greater public trust and transparency in the wake of the scandal. -- $90,098 for purchases from an unidentified Southern California vendor that the California secretary of state's office lists as having a suspended business status. Gilda Gonzales, president of the port's Board of Commissioners, said at Monday's board meeting that "the vast majority of port employees have followed the rules and have been doing the right thing." The port scandal erupted in October after The Chronicle revealed that Kwon spent thousands in public money at a Houston strip club. Agency's fundingThe Port of Oakland is an unusual public agency in that it is largely funded through business revenue from leases as well as federal and state grants. Of that money, $10,306 was spent on Christmas gifts, and tickets to Golden State Warriors and Oakland Raiders games. Of $50,000 worth of meal and entertainment expenses that auditors randomly sampled, not one included the detail required by the Internal Revenue Service or even the port's own policies.