SUMMARY: Revelations that Spokane Mayor James West slept with men -- and has been accused of pedophilia -- shocked locals, but the 54-year-old mayor has vowed to stay in his job.
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SPOKANE, Wash. -- Revelations that Spokane Mayor James West slept with men -- and has been accused of pedophilia by two alleged victims -- came as a shock to residents of this Washington city. But it came as no surprise that West, 54, has vowed to stay in his job. His career has been based, in large part, on overcoming adversity.
"I am a law-abiding citizen and I believe my public record of service stands on its own merit," West said Thursday in his only public comments on the case. "I have 1,150 days left in my term of office, and each and every one of those days will be dedicated to serving the city."
West also vehemently denied the molestation allegations, but he did acknowledge trolling a gay Web site (Gay.com) and said he "had relationships with adult men. I don't deny that."
West, raised in Spokane, joined the U.S. Army in 1971 and became a member of the 82nd Airborne. One of his Internet chat room screen names on Gay.com was "Cobra82nd," thought to be a reference to his military service, according to The Spokesman-Review newspaper, which broke the story on Thursday.
West left the military in 1974 and returned to Spokane to seek a career in law enforcement.
In 1975 he became a Spokane County deputy and a few years later became involved in Boy Scouts and other youth-oriented activities, interests he has maintained to the present day.
West ran for sheriff in 1978, but lost. The next year he was appointed assistant sergeant-at-arms of the state House of Representatives in Olympia for the 1979 session.
In the mid-1970s, West was a Boy Scouts leader with David Hahn, a fellow sheriff's deputy. Hahn killed himself in 1981 amid allegations of pedophilia, and West has said he knew nothing about his friend's proclivities.
But one of Hahn's alleged victims came forward to The Spokesman-Review last week to say that West did know about the abuse: In 1980, Hahn and West took a group of boys on a hiking trip around Mount Rainier. The victim, then 12, said he was molested by Hahn in his tent and told West about it the next day; West told him to "forget it."
That year, West beat an incumbent to become at 28 the youngest city councilman in Spokane history.
In 1982 he was elected to the state House, and five years later moved up to the state Senate. A social and fiscal conservative, he spent the next 16 years rising in power, until he became majority leader in 2003.
West opposed gay rights, abortion rights and teenage sex during his legislative career. He made headlines in 1990 when he proposed marriage from the floor of the Senate to Ginger Marshall while she was visiting the Capitol. Their marriage ended five years later, and they had no children.
In 1998, West got major publicity when he made a threatening phone call to building industry lobbyist Tom McCabe during a political dispute. He left a screaming message on an answering machine in which he warned McCabe, "You better get me, 'cause if you don't you're dead."
West was forced to pay $500 to a charity and apologize to McCabe in a plea agreement. The incident cemented his reputation as a tough guy and loose cannon.
In 2000 he ran for mayor of Spokane, but lost in the primary. In 2002, he beat Democrat Laurie Dolan in the most expensive state Senate race in Washington history, when they combined to spend $735,000, and he was chosen majority leader.
In April 2003, West announced he had colon cancer and underwent surgery. Later that year he decided to once again run for mayor. He beat journalist Tom Grant for the job of leading the city of 200,000.
As the story of his secret life was landing on people's doorsteps, West got up early for a meeting with city labor leaders. Then he held a regularly scheduled meeting with top city executives to go over civic business.
Members of Spokane's gay community said there have long been rumors about West's sexual orientation. Kevan Gardner of the Pride Foundation, a community-based group, said he was sorely disappointed that West railed against gay rights for so long.
In an e-mail to city employees Thursday, West gave no hint of resigning.
"It's only three and a half days to Monday and boy am I looking forward to that," West wrote. "As you know, Monday is my favorite day of the week because it is a new beginning and it comes every seven days."
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This pervert hired *****s and kept propositioning them to "swim naked" at his home pool, he tried to get some of them to give him BJ's at the workplace... offered money for butt sex....
WHERE IS THE LIBERAL MEDIA ????
OH yeah, it ain't that he's "republican" its that he's a pickle puffer -- so he gets a pass.
Why would the liberal media , the biggest lovers of turd tampers outside of the Hollywierd glitterati , have anything bad to say about a ***** ? Really Tard , sometimes you just baffle me ...
__________________
Kevin Haendiges
NAHC Life Member
NRA Member
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http://hunting-indiana.com
Where the hell is the liberal media on this?
This is just absolutely, just totally, WRONG! 
