SPOKANE – 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 said. “I’m at peace with their decision – and disappointed.”
He said he was very proud of his accomplishments in two years as mayor.
“We’ve had a great run,” he added.
West has spent 27 years in public office. He is the city’s first elected chief executive to be ousted before his term expired.
He planned a news conference today to “prepare to make the transition and pass the baton.”
The recall petition contended West used his political office for personal benefit. The mayor, 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 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 until the council appoints a replacement to finish the remaining two years of West’s term. Hession said he will apply for that appointment as well.
He said the controversy hampered the mayor’s ability to run the city, despite West’s best efforts to do his job.
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 Spokane newspaper to track the mayor’s activities in a Gay.com chat room.
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