SPOKANE – A bid to recall Mayor James West over a sex scandal has garnered nearly 74 percent of the signatures needed to place it on a special election ballot this year.
County elections workers said Tuesday that they had verified signatures from 9,251 registered city voters on recall petitions, or 73.6 percent of the 12,567 needed to place the issue up for a vote on Dec. 6.
Elections manager Paul Brandt said the county will probably have verified the required signatures by today. County Auditor Vicky Dalton would then certify the recall petition Friday morning, with formal notice going to recall author Shannon Sullivan and West that day.
West would have seven days to submit a response to the recall ballot language, which can be up to 250 words long. He has been accused of misusing his office to get sex from young men.
Dalton plans to hold the election on Dec. 6, the last day allowed by law, to give her staff time to recover from the Nov. 8 general election. Dalton has said it will be an all-mail vote.
Sullivan has stepped away from the recall battle and a small group of activists will take on the political campaign against West.
Neil Beaver, former coordinator for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign in Spokane, said the recall effort needed to stick to a simple message involving the sex scandal. Bringing in questions about other city controversies “is just going to clutter it up,” he said.
Former City Councilman Steve Corker agreed. Recall supporters ought to emphasize that voters should base their decision on allegations that West misused his office, he said.
“I don’t know of a person in this town that doesn’t know the issues,” Corker said.
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