Spokane mayor recalled from office after Internet sex scandal

SPOKANE, Wash. — Mayor James E. West was recalled from office Tuesday in a special election prompted by news accounts that he offered City Hall jobs and perks to young men he met in a gay Internet chat room.

West, 54, a Republican former state legislator who voted against gay-friendly bills, must leave office when the election results are certified Dec. 16.

Just over half of the 110,000 ballots mailed to city voters were counted in the first batch of results, released Tuesday night. Of those, 38,718, or 65 percent, voted to recall West, while 20,681, or 35 percent, voted to retain him.

It was unclear how many more ballots would be received; they had to be postmarked by Tuesday to be counted.

"I said I'd abide by the will of the voters, obviously, and they've spoken," West told The Associated Press. "I'm at peace with their decision — and disappointed."

The mayor said he was very proud of his accomplishments in office.

"We've had a great run," he said.

West has spent 25 years in public office and is the city's first elected chief executive to be ousted before his term expired.

He said he planned a Wednesday news conference to "prepare to make the transition and pass the baton."

The Spokesman-Review newspaper conducted an undercover investigation and reported in a series of articles beginning May 5 that West was a closeted homosexual who visited gay chat rooms on his city-owned computer and offered internships and other favors to young men he hoped to have sex with.

City Council President Dennis Hession, a lawyer first elected to the seven-member council in 2002, will become mayor pro tempore of this city of 200,000 until the council appoints a replacement to finish the remaining two years of West's four-year term.

West was elected mayor — which he described as his "dream job" — in 2003 after serving more than two decades as a state legislator.

The recall petition contended West used his political office for personal benefit by offering a city internship to someone he thought was an 18-year-old man he'd met in a gay online chat room. The person, who West knew by the screen name "Moto-Brock," actually was a computer expert hired by the newspaper to track the mayor's activities in a Gay.com chat room.

West, who has not been charged with any crime, acknowledged making mistakes in his personal life, but asked voters to give him a second chance.

The newspaper also printed allegations by two men with criminal records that West molested them when they were children and he was a sheriff's deputy and Boy Scout leader in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

West vehemently denied the molestation allegations, and no criminal probe was launched because the statute of limitations had long expired.

West, who described himself as the victim of a "brutal outing," has acknowledged having relationships with young men but denied doing anything illegal. West has said he plans to sue The Spokesman-Review.

The FBI is conducting a public corruption investigation and has seized the hard drives of West's work and home computers. A lawyer hired by the Spokane City Council concluded the mayor violated state laws and city computer policies.

The recall was organized by Shannon Sullivan, a single mother with no legal experience who circulated signature petitions and argued her case before the state Supreme Court.

The political novice said she was motivated by the newspaper accounts that alleged West was offering city perks and jobs to young men in exchange for sex. She said she was unable to explain the mayor's actions to her son, a 9-year-old Cub Scout.