Anti-gay Spokane Mayor James West has been recalled from office after months of kicking and screaming.
The former Mayor, whose achievements against gays include opposing domestic partner benefits for city workers, holding up a gay rights bill in a Senate committee where it died, opposing gay rights bills in ’85 and ’87, and voting for the Defense of Marriage Act, was discovered to have been visiting Gay.com chat rooms while on city time and on city computers, and offering city jobs to young men he met in those chat rooms.
The former Mayor was also accused of molesting two young men when they were children but the charges never panned out as the statute of limitations expired long ago.
After the allegations, West contended that he was the victim of a “brutal outing” and that the hundreds of suggestive photos downloaded to his city computer were placed there by automatic caching and weren’t downloaded deliberately.
Public sentiment has been strongly against the hypocritical politician for months. In an early count, 65% of Spokane citizens voted to recall the Mayor. West reacted to the news, offering no apologies: “I said I’d abide by the will of the voters, obviously, and they’ve spoken. I’m at peace with their decision — and disappointed. We’ve had a great run.”
Spokane Says Bye to West [olympian]
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James West Denies Allegations, Refuses to Resign [tr]
