Recall of Spokane
mayor appears headed to ballot

Election workers counting signatures on petitions to recall Spokane, Wash., mayor Jim West expected to verify enough names Thursday to send the issue to a special election December 6. More than 10,600 signatures had been reviewed and accepted as workers began counting Monday. They expected to reach the 12,567 required to validate by the end of the day Thursday. Signature gatherers turned in 17,434 names on recall petitions, and about 20% were not accepted. West, 55, is accused of misusing his office by seeking dates from young men over a gay Web site and offering them gifts, trips, and City Hall positions. The FBI is pursuing a public corruption investigation. No criminal charges have been filed. West's troubles began in May, when Spokane's daily newspaper, The Spokesman-Review, began publishing articles implicating the former state legislator and sheriff's deputy in child sexual abuse in the 1970s and of cruising a gay Web site for dates with young men. West acknowledged having relations with adult males but vehemently denied sexually abusing children or doing anything illegal. If enough signatures are verified, Spokane County auditor Vicky Dalton will certify the recall petition Friday and give formal notice to recall author Shannon Sullivan and West. West would have seven days to submit a response to the recall ballot language, which can be up to 250 words long. Dalton said the special vote-by-mail election would be held December 6, the last day allowed by law, to avoid conflicts with ballots from the November 8 general election. The campaign to gather signatures on recall petitions was led by Shannon Sullivan, an unemployed single mother who successfully argued her cause before the state supreme court in August after West's lawyers appealed the ballot language. A group called Citizens for Integrity in Government, which runs the www.westmustgo.com Web site, has taken over the campaign. State Public Disclosure Commission reports show that the campaign so far has been a grassroots affair. The Committee for Spokane's Progress political action committee, which supports West, reported the mayor has spent about $85,000, mostly in lawyer fees, while receiving $1,150 in campaign contributions. The pro-recall PAC, called the Recall Signature Team, raised and spent about $3,500 in cash and had about $21,600 in donated legal work. On another front, West's lawyers are seeking to block public release of the contents of his office computer hard drive, in part because they contain material that the public would find "highly offensive." A hearing has been scheduled for October 12 before Judge Richard Miller in Adams County superior court. (AP)