Posted on 05/24/2005 12:55:31 PM PDT by SmithL
Spokane -- New allegations of misconduct surfaced Tuesday against Mayor James West, who has rejected demands for his resignation amid allegations he offered city jobs to men he met in gay online chat rooms.
According to The Spokesman-Review, state Sen. Pam Roach said that when West served in the Legislature, he made an inappropriate sexual comment to her about her teenage son. The newspaper also said a man claimed that he was inappropriately touched during a pat-down search when West was a sheriff's deputy in the 1970s.
Through his attorney, Bill Etter, West denied the published reports.
"Mr. West denies each and every one of these allegations," Etter said.
The new allegations were part of a series of articles the newspaper has published about West, a conservative Republican and longtime opponent of gay rights. The Spokesman-Review has also reported allegations that West molested two boys in the 1970s when he was a Boy Scout leader, and that he offered gifts, favors and jobs at City Hall to young men he met online.
The mayor has denied those allegations but acknowledged having relations with adult men.
The Justice Department is investigating whether West used his political office and city resources improperly. The city also is investigating.
Roach told the newspaper that West made the comment in the Senate chamber around 1990, when her then-18-year-old son was working as a tour guide in the state Capitol and West was a state senator.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Given the nature of the charges against the mayor, the headline is fairly comical!
Now all we need to read is this: "Tension is mounting in allegations against mayor."
Read this a.m. West needs to resign.
I'm willing to give him to benefit of doubt, but it appears West is morally unfit for his position. He has not denied any of the allegations.
I meant to say "criminal allegations"
Actually, I think he has denied many of the allegations, at least the criminal or unethical ones. He does not appear to be denying that he's gay.
But something is just not right with this story. If these ethical problems are true he should certainly resign, but I keep getting this nagging feeling that there is something else at work here.
Apparently a few years ago there was some sort of dust-up regarding the mayor and a certain family (I forget the name) over the construction of some huge parking garage project in Spokane. The mayor won the day, but the family that got the short end of the deal (in their eye) happens to be the same family that owns the Spokesman Review. This is the paper that set up the sting on the mayor.
It was clearly entrapment, from what I understand, though it seems that maybe they were just creating an opportunity for him to fall into a trap where everybody knew he'd be likely to take the bait.
It doesn't speak well of the mayor's personal ethics, but it is also creepy that the local paper would do this. The whole thing just smells.
You know I think West is scum, but Pam Roach needs to knock it off too. She's practicing a very ugly form of political payback.
The two constantly battled in Olympia, enough already, her lame allegations only brings scorn to her house. And it isn't too clean, either. It involves the son she's making an allegation against West about. Not very bright if you ask me.
"Apparently a few years ago there was some sort of dust-up regarding the mayor and a certain family"
This scandal, known as the Riverpark Square debacle, predated West's term of office. It involved the city getting too cozy with developers (the family) and essentially underwriting the risk of a huge downtown development project. The project tanked and the taxpayers paid the tab. Incredibly, no one went to jail.
Ah... I didn't know that it was before West's term. So he wasn't involved in that?
West was only involved in the settlement of numerous claims that arose out of the scandal. Coincidentally, the last claim was settled shortly before the sex abuse claims made the paper. And West's so-called 'private life' has been old news in Spokane for decades. Curiouser and curiouser.
The Cowles family. (Betsy and Stacey). They are on a jihad to ruin West. They have stolen millions from Spokane, and besides ownership of the Spokesman Review, they own KHQ Channel 6, an NBC affiliate. Spokane is a one pony town, a pathetic joke. It is a suburb in search of a city.....
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