James E. West, 55; Spokane Mayor Ousted After Internet Sex Scandal

Former Mayor James E. West, who was recalled from office over an Internet gay sex scandal, died Saturday of complications from recent cancer surgery. He was 55.

The conservative former Republican state Senate majority leader was diagnosed in early 2003 with colon cancer that later spread to his liver. A statement issued by the University of Washington Medical Center said his family and pastor were at his side at the Seattle hospital when he died.

Seven months after the Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane began publishing results of a computer sting it conducted to track the mayor’s online activities in a gay chat room, West was ousted from office Dec. 6, 2005, on a charge that he used his office for personal benefit.

West was the first Spokane city official to be recalled from office, ending a 27-year career in city and state politics.

Born in Salem, Ore., West grew up in Spokane. He served as an Army paratrooper and graduated from Gonzaga University in Spokane. He served as a police officer, a sheriff’s deputy and a state legislator. He frequently opposed gay-rights bills during his 20 years in the state House and Senate.

The newspaper alleged that during Internet chats involving discussions about sex, he offered to help someone he thought was an 18-year-old high school student to get a City Hall internship.

“I wish I had never gone online at all. I just wish I hadn’t,” West told the Associated Press in an Oct. 31, 2005, interview. “I scratch my head today. I can’t tell you why.”

West acknowledged having relations with adult men but denied doing anything illegal. He was never criminally charged, although the FBI conducted a public corruption investigation.

After two terms in the state House, West served four terms in the state Senate, rising to majority leader before stepping down in 2003 to run for his “dream job” of Spokane mayor.

Less than 18 months into his four-year term, the Spokesman-Review began publishing its series on the mayor’s online activities.

In the series, the paper published accusations by two convicted felons who said West had molested them more than 20 years ago when he was a Boy Scout leader and sheriff’s deputy.

West fought the recall despite calls for his resignation by the City Council, business leaders and the state and local Republican parties.

“It’s an unusual episode in my life. I wish there was a rewind button, rewind and erase and start over,” West told the AP. “Basically, that’s what I’m asking the public, for a second chance.”

Instead, he was voted out of office.

West, who was divorced after five years of marriage and had no children, is survived by his father, a brother and a sister.