Emergency hearing
sought in recall of Spokane mayor

The Washington State supreme court has been asked for an emergency review of the recall campaign against Spokane, Wash., mayor James West, who is embroiled in a gay sex scandal. West, on the eve of the high court's summer recess, appealed a lower court decision that allowed the recall to proceed. Recall supporters want the matter heard immediately, hoping they can begin gathering signatures. Shannon Sullivan, the unemployed woman who has found herself the unlikely leader of the effort to recall the city's most powerful politician, is also setting up a nonprofit corporation to handle the money she is receiving from supporters, said Mark Hodgson, a Spokane lawyer who has started providing her with free legal advice. "Things are happening quickly," Hodgson said of Sullivan's request to the supreme court. Geoffrey Crooks, the supreme court commissioner in Olympia, said the request for a quick review had not arrived yet. "It's not going to happen in the next week," Crooks said Wednesday. The supreme court is due to begin its summer recess at the end of this week and not return to hear cases until September 13. West's opponents fear that his appeal means the recall cannot be put on a ballot until next year. According to a poll conducted for KXLY-TV and The Inlander weekly newspaper and broadcast late Thursday, 61% of Spokane residents want West to resign, while 31% do not want him to, and 8% are undecided. The poll, by Strategic Research Associates, questioned 600 people who live in the Spokane city limits and had a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points. The Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce, the city council, and the state Republican Party have all urged West to resign. (AP)