June 29, 2005 | Funny Bits

Spokane mayor fights recall; is this a witch hunt?

Spokane Mayor James E. West, accused of offering city jobs to men he met in a Gay.com chat room, is appealing a judge's ruling allowing a recall petition to proceed.

West, a vocal opponent of gay rights, denies any criminal or unethical conduct and refuses to resign over unsubstantiated allegations made by The Spokesman-Review newspaper last month that he sexually abused a male teen  over twenty years ago. The newspaper also said that West offered city jobs to men he met in online chat rooms. The recall petition focuses on the latter accusation. 

West says that he did encourage a young man he met online to apply for an internship, but did not reveal his office nor guarantee the young man would be chosen for the unpaid position. West will not resign over the issue and remains in the Mayor's office.

The West affair has raised entrapment and online privacy issues. A reporter for The Spokesman-Review posed as an eighteen year-old high school student and initiated an online relationship with West. As West became more familiar with the fake student he did in fact encourage him to apply for an internship.

According to online privacy experts, no one should assume that their chat room conversations are private; even when precautions are taken such as using an anonymous screen name or moving the conversations to instant messaging services, privacy cannot be guaranteed.  And when an online chat becomes public, the chatters cannot claim that their privacy has been breached.

• Spokane mayor stirs online privacy debate [gay.com]
• Commentary: Jim West as a role model [Advocate]
• Witch hunt in Spokane [The Guide]
• Investigative report and follow-up articles [The Spokesman Review]
• Spokane mayor says recall charges are false [gay.com]
• Spokane's embattled mayor lowers profile [gay.com]