SPOKANE – Spokane Mayor Jim West should know by this evening if he will finish his first term, as the results are released in an unprecedented recall election triggered by a sex scandal.
More than 110,000 ballots were mailed in mid-November to residents of this city of 200,000.
Ballots must be postmarked no later than today, and Spokane County election officials expect to release results of the ballots in hand shortly after 8 p.m. tonight.
West, 54, did not immediately return a telephone message on Monday.
Recall organizer Shannon Sullivan said Monday she was feeling a sense of accomplishment that the recall battle she launched is coming to an end.
“I think he’ll be recalled,” she said. “That’s my opinion.”
Sullivan lived in a motorhome for 30 days along busy Division Street in Spokane to collect the 17,000 signatures to mount the recall. The political novice said she was motivated by newspaper accounts that alleged West was offering city perks and jobs to young men in exchange for sex.
West, who has called himself the victim of a “brutal outing,” has acknowledged having relationships with young men but denies doing anything illegal. No criminal charges have been filed.
While the election is entirely vote-by-mail, those who want to save the cost of a stamp can take their ballots to one of three drop-off sites around Spokane.
With more than 50 percent of the ballots mailed already returned, and polls showing that voters overwhelmingly support the recall, a victory by West appears unlikely.
West seems to believe that also. He will watch the election returns at the home of a friend and is not planning to make a public appearance tonight. By contrast, two different groups that pushed for the recall will have public gatherings.
If the majority of voters favor the recall, West must leave office on Dec. 16, the day the results are certified. He would be the first Spokane elected city official to be ousted from office.
City Council President Dennis Hession would become the temporary mayor, and the council would pick a replacement to fill the remaining two years of West’s term.
If a majority votes against recall, West would remain in office, although his conduct remains the subject of several government investigations.
Regardless of the outcome, West said he plans to sue The Spokesman-Review newspaper. The newspaper, in a series of articles that began on May 5, alleged that West offered a City Hall internship to someone he’d met over the Internet and with whom he had sexually explicit chats.
West thought “Moto-Brock,” the person at the other end of the Internet, was a Spokane high school senior. Moto-Brock was actually a forensic computer specialist hired by the newspaper to help verify the story of another young man who told the newspaper he’d met someone he thought was West on the Internet and had a sexual relationship with him.
The single allegation on the recall ballot is that West used his political office for “personal benefit” by offering to help Moto-Brock obtain an internship while discussing sex and dating with him.
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