West Out

If you ever move to Spokane, meet the right people, say the right things, and end up becoming mayor of that town, it may be not be a good idea to spend your free time soliciting young men in gay chat rooms and offering them civic jobs. Stick to ribbon cuttings at the zoo and having people let you win the Bloomsday Run.

Soon-to-be-former Mayor Jim West, a one time state senator who voted against many "gay-friendly" bills during his time in Olympia, made national news last spring when the Spokesman Review accused him of sex abuse in the 1970s and exposed him as frequent visitor to online gay chat rooms ---where he would offer young men jobs at city hall. Soon after the newspaper published the story he came out as a gay man.

All of this didn't sit too kindly with Spokanierites, some of whom, probably hoping for Mayor Schwarzenegger, decided that a good old-fashioned recall was in order.

West, who made it quite clear that he would not resign, was defeated yesterday by a margin of 65% to 35%.

However, there is good news for West: the election was all mail.

At a press confrence this morning, West claimed, "I have no regrets as far as being mayor the last two years. I have regrets in my personal life...I wish those things never occurred. I am embarrassed by them."

Sadly for the people of Spokane, the new mayor is this guy.