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Pious Perverts See other Pious Perverts Articles Title: New allegations against Spokane mayor New allegations against Spokane mayor By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS SPOKANE, Wash. -- Even as he fended off calls for his resignation, new allegations of past misconduct surfaced Tuesday against Mayor James E. West. In its Tuesday editions, The Spokesman-Review quoted state Sen. Pam Roach as saying that West, when he served in the Legislature, once 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. The allegations were the latest in a series of articles the newspaper has been publishing about West, a conservative and longtime opponent of gay rights. The Spokesman has reported allegations that West molested two boys in the 1970s when he was a deputy sheriff and a Boy Scout leader and that he offered gifts, favors and jobs at City Hall to lure young men. The mayor has denied those allegations, but acknowledged having relations with adult men. The Justice Department is investigating whether West improperly used his political office and city resources, and the city is conducting its own investigation. Roach, R-Auburn, told the newspaper West made the comment in the Senate chamber in about 1990, when her then-18-year-old son was working as a tour guide in the state Capitol. At the time, West was a state senator. "West told me, 'I want to do to your son what no mother would want to know,'" Roach said the former senator told her. "He then got up and left." Roach said she told fellow Republican Sen. Ann Anderson about the encounter at the time, but Anderson, now a lobbyist for Central Washington University, recalled the incident differently. Anderson, a friend of West, told the newspaper she recalled West told Roach, "Pam, you have a nice-looking young son." Roach said she later told her son, Dan Roach, now a Republican state representative from Bonney Lake, about the comment. The newspaper also reported claims of a former Spokane man who said West fondled him in 1977 when the mayor was a sheriff's deputy. Jeffrey A. Mewes, 45, said he was 17 when West shoved his hand down the front of the teenager's pants, ostensibly looking for marijuana. "He put his hand way down inside the front of my pants, like a fondling search," Mewes said. "I told him over and over, 'My weed's not there, it's in my shoe.'" "But he left his hand down inside my pants for a long time," Mewes said. "I thought it was abnormal and very inappropriate." Through his private attorney, Bill Etter, West denied the published reports. "Mr. West denies each and every one of these allegations," Etter said. Roach, who acknowledged having political differences with West when he was a senator, said she likely will be criticized for speaking out against a formerly powerful senate member. "I'm just somebody that he doesn't have power over," Roach said. "It's time for the truth to come out about Mr. West." On Monday, West again denied that he molested two boys decades ago and rejected demands by local business leaders that he resign for the good of the city. In his first public comments in two weeks, West apologized to residents, apparently for trolling a gay Web site. West denied using city-owned equipment for visiting that site. "I have said before and I repeat again that the allegations that I molested young boys over 20 years ago are entirely false," West said Monday in a brief news conference outside his office. "I have never had improper contact with a child." Again refusing to answer questions from reporters, West said he intends to serve the remaining 2 1/2 years of his term. About an hour earlier, business leaders in this city of 200,000 demanded that West resign. The Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce and Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau acknowledged that West and his business-friendly policies had been good for the city but said the situation is now a distraction from improvement efforts. "There are over 50 CEOs on the chamber and CVB's boards, and they have told us that they would not have their jobs today if they had done what Jim West has already admitted to doing," the groups said in a joint statement. "We believe that the community needs a new CEO." Only a recall petition and public vote can remove him from office. One resident is pursuing a recall petition.
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#1. To: Mr Nuke Buzzcut (#0)
Our mayor, folks. Huzzah. Hip hip freaking hooray. Well, he said he'd "put Spokane on the map". Not too many politicians actually live up to their campaign promises nowadays...
#2. To: Elliott Jackalope (#1)
He's done that, all right. This story has turned up in the New England press. Of course, they troll for stories with a 'gay theme' around these parts.
Lucky you. I hope Spokane has the balls to recall him and send him to San Francisco where he belongs.
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