Hum, gay hating bigots private affairs...

[memyselfI]

Gee, and RWNJs wonder why those on the other side are so curious about the level of contempt and fear they exhibit. :shake: ROFL

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/10/AR2005051000224.html

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/05/spokanes-anti-gay-mayor-former-state.html

Wash. Mayor Taking Leave Amid Allegations

By JOHN K. WILEY
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 10, 2005; 1:40 PM

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Citing what he called persecution and hysteria, Mayor Jim West says he's taking a few weeks off to defend himself against allegations of child molestation and new claims that he offered city jobs to men he met online.

Shortly after West announced Monday that he would take a leave of absence, The Spokesman-Review posted a new story on its Web page alleging the mayor offered city jobs to two young men he met through a gay Internet chat room _ and that one of them briefly accepted a city appointment.



James E. West is shown in this Oct. 14, 2003 file photo, in Spokane, Wash., before he became Spokane mayor.This week's revelations that Mayor James West was a closeted bisexual _ and has been accused of pedophilia by two alleged victims _ were a shock to residents of this eastern Washington city. But it comes as no surprise to many that West is vowing to stay in his job. (AP Photo/Jeff T. Green, file) (Jeff T. Green/str - AP)

The newspaper last week launched a series of articles about West, a conservative Republican who has opposed gay rights. It said it hired a computer forensics expert who posed as an 18-year-old male high school student in Internet chats with West on Gay.com. West offered the "teen" a City Hall internship, tickets to professional sporting events and other gifts, the newspaper reported.

In Monday's account, Ryan Oelrich, an openly gay 24-year-old, told the paper he accepted West's appointment to the city's Human Rights Commission in April 2004. He suspected a man he had chatted with online at Gay.com was West, but didn't find out until after he was hired, Oelrich said Tuesday.

Oelrich said he had initially thought West was appointing him to the commission because of his background as director of the nonprofit Gay Youth Association. He also owns a business that makes balloon sculptures for entertainment and other events.

"At first, my thought was, 'I'm here, I might as well do the best I can,'" he said. "But as time progressed and I had further interactions with the mayor, I had a feeling in back of my mind ... `What if anybody found out? How stupid would I look.' I don't want to be a person who obtained a position because someone was romantically interested in me."

Oelrich said Tuesday that he thinks West is being unfairly maligned, but should resign.

Oelrich told the newspaper he knows of "five or six other young gay men that Jim West has met online and offered City Hall jobs."

The newspaper said another man, who is 25 and spoke on condition of anonymity, said West, who is divorced, offered him a job as the city's human resources director and then a post as the city's aquatics director. The man said he rejected both offers.

Calls placed late Monday to the mayor's office and City Attorney Mike Connelly seeking comment on the latest allegations were not immediately returned. City officials had earlier seized West's City Hall computer for an investigation into whether he used it improperly.

"The current news media hysteria is distracting to the business of the city and is occupying a great deal of my time," West told the City Council on Monday afternoon.

He said he would take his first vacation since taking office in January 2004 to prepare a response to the newspaper's allegations. He told the council that Deputy Mayor Jack Lynch would lead the city in his absence.

"I hope that you and the people will reserve judgment on me until the newspaper is done persecuting me and allow me to have the fair opportunity to respond to each of the allegations in due time," West said.

West, a 54-year-old former state Senate leader, last week denied the decades-old molestation allegations, but acknowledged that he had visited the gay online chat room and had relations with adult men.

In the series it began publishing last Thursday, The Spokesman-Review reported allegations that West had abused two boys while he was a sheriff's deputy and Boy Scout leader in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The statute of limitations has expired on those old allegations and no criminal investigations were under way in connection with them, local law enforcement agencies said.

Also on Monday, a Spokane woman filed paperwork to recall the mayor. If the petition's wording is approved by a judge, recall supporters would have to gather more than 12,500 signatures to place the issue on the ballot.

The Spokesman-Review and The Seattle Times have called for West to step down, as did the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, D.C. a national gay advocacy organization.

[Taco John]

I have no idea what you are trying to communicate here...

[Iowanian]

She's saying "nanana boo boo, a republican takes it in the doo doo"


Hhrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Brock]

The latest scandal to rock the Republican party, ala Jeff Gannon.

[Taco John]

I've read about this, and if it's true, it's disgusting, and he should lose his job. Basically New Jersey all over again, but on a local level.

Now is a bad time to be a gay Republican, that's for sure.

[Radar Chief]

I have no idea what you are trying to communicate here...

I doubt she does either.

[Taco John]

The latest scandal to rock the Republican party, ala Jeff Gannon.



Apparently, the "liberal" media isn't interested in Gay Republican scandals... Only land deals and straight-sex scandals.

[Iowanian]

I could really give a crap less who some 3rd rate reporter, and the mayor of DooDah, OR humpin the dumper.

Its not national news to me. He's a mayor...not a senator, Not a congressman, not a governor, not an aide to the President.

I thought you liberals were about staying out of the guys bedroom? Why do you care if his Prostate is the town pinata?

Christ....Marion Berry was a Dem Mayor of DC and got re elected after being exposed as a crackhead and hooker consosiuer.

Yeah..he's an asshole. Fire him. I'm sure the other parties Each have local level scumbags and homos. Dense is probably raising a mayOral canidate right now.

[memyselfI]

I have no idea what you are trying to communicate here...

Surely you jest...

Read about the guy's history and how anti-gay he's been politically and then look at what he did in the closet and consider how often this has happened to folks like him.

[RaiderH8r]

Surely you jest...

Read about the guy's history and how anti-gay he's been politically and then look at what he did in the closet and consider how often this has happened to folks like him.
He denied gay marriage...big whoop. I guess he figures other gays...like him....are just having a good time.... :)

[Baby Lee]

a series of articles about West, a conservative Republican who has opposed gay rights.
An assertion that screams to be backed up with specifics, but curiously isn't.
I see the specific that he hired an openly gay activist to the Human Rights Commission.
I see the specific that he hired 5-6 other gay men [but not the specific about whether they were openly gay or not] to City Hall jobs.
But no specifics on what makes him 'conservative' or 'anti-gay,' just the assertion.

[Mr. Kotter]

Allegations....

that if proven, make this one guy an idiot.

Except you wish to expand the implication, to stereotype the "other side?"

Gotcha. :rolleyes:

[Iowanian]

It just shows that he's "researched" the topic, and therefor is probably better suited to make that decision, eh Dense?

Maybe its just that difficult to find strait men to Employ in Spokane....

[|Zach|]

The only thing I found interesting from this story was the funny quote I bolded...

(Via The Spokesman-Review) (http://www.spokesmanreview.com/jimwest/story.asp?ID=050905_west_interview)
-----------
Mayor Jim West ended two days of public silence on Sunday in a rambling, sometimes emotional 30-minute conversation over an expanding controversy linking his sexual activities and the trappings of his public office.

West responded quickly to The Spokesman-Review's front-page story on Sunday that revealed new details about his activities, calling the newspaper's editor at 6:37 a.m. to deny the new allegations and offer responses to several elements of the newspaper's investigation.
West began the conversation with Steven A. Smith, editor of The Spokesman-Review, by saying City Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers mischaracterized comments he made to her in a telephone conversation on Thursday.

"I didn't masturbate in my office - never, not ever," West told Smith.

"There was a misunderstanding," West told the newspaper's senior editor, and "Cherie (Rodgers) misunderstood me."


West called the editor to complain about details in Sunday's story, which quoted Rodgers as saying West on Thursday had told her he was in his City Hall office during some of the conduct first reported in that day's editions of the newspaper.
West did not return telephone calls on Saturday when newspaper reporters attempted to get his reaction to the allegations raised by Rodgers.

Smith, awakened by West's call to his home, took notes of the mayor's comments, which included him saying:
"I'm being destroyed because I am a gay man, which is fine. I've been in public life, I can accept that. Because I am a gay man, because of this double life, it has been hell."
"Yes, I know it's not about being gay, I know that. There are other things."

"It's OK to destroy me, but stop destroying this city."
Smith said West "talked briefly about his double life, and he was clearly crying during this part of the exchange."

West also said:
"I'm not mad at the paper. You're just doing your job, I know that. I'm glad at least you're trying to verify everything, you're trying to verify these stories."

"I led a life of hell. I know the rumors (of sexual orientation) have been out there for a long time. It has been hell. I didn't date. I was celibate. That was true. Oh God. Oh God."

"I don't know what to do. I just want to get through tomorrow."
When the newspaper editor asked the mayor if other men claiming to be abuse victims are likely to come forward, he said, "probably so."
"For some people, they'll do it for the thrill. Some people are confused. I need time," Smith said West told him.

While not denying the conduct, West said he wasn't in his City Hall office but at his home when the simulated online sex occurred. "I would never, ever sully or disgrace my office in this way," he told Smith.
Rodgers, however, stood by her version that West had told her he was in his City Hall office during one of his online sex conversations with the teenager who was really a computer consultant hired by the newspaper.

"He maintains one thing, but I still have my memory and my notes of what happened that day," Rodgers said on Sunday.
Rodgers said she told West in another telephone conversation on Sunday morning, ".'I know you said it.'."
The councilwoman said that in their conversation last week West also confirmed that he engaged in sexual activity last June while on a date in Spokane with an 18-year-old he met earlier in the Gay.com chat room.

It was that young man's story about allegedly meeting the mayor in the online chat room that led the newspaper to hire a forensic computer expert to verify the teenager's claims that the man he met online was West - a process that took six months to complete and involved creating a fictional teenager known as "Moto-Brock."
On April 9, West sent his photo and City Hall Web site biography to Moto-Brock, asking him to keep the secret. "Please don't tell anyone at all," the 54-year-old mayor told Moto-Brock, who he thought was a gay teenager. "It's a part of my life I don't share at all," he said.
"Someday I may run for governor and this would be bad, if you know what I mean," West told the teenager.
The complete transcript of that dialogue between the mayor and Moto-Brock and eight other online conversations that occurred between mid-February and early April can be found on the newspaper's Web site, www.spokesmanreview.com (http://www.spokesmanreview.com).

City officials have called for an independent, outside investigation, and have seized city computers used by West.

The newspaper has e-mails West sent from City Hall computers, offering an internship in the mayor's office to Moto-Brock., the fictional 18-year-old he meet in a Gay.com chat room before the two engaged in simulated sex dialogues using AOL "instant messaging."
The mayor complained about Rodgers' comments in Sunday's editions during his early morning call to Smith.
"He was initially emotional, slightly choked up, but otherwise calm and soft-spoken," Smith said in describing West's demeanor during the call.
The mayor "went on to talk about the general scope of the allegations more generally. His emotions began to build and there were moments when he would choke up, sounding near tears, pausing to gather his thoughts," Smith said.

The newspaper editor said West again denied abusing Robert J. Galliher and Michael G. Grant Jr. in the late 1970s and early 1980s when he was a sheriff's deputy and Boy Scout leader.

"I categorically deny abusing young boys," West told Smith in reference to Galliher's and Grant's claims.

"Those things never happened. I ask myself, did I live some sort of double life? Do I have a split personality? I don't think so," Smith said in repeating West's comments.

West said he is "trying to piece together specific evidence that will show he could not have molested" Galliher and Grant, but "how do you prove a negative?" Smith related.

The mayor said the newspaper had "how many months, months and months" to get these articles, and he has to have time to gather his defense, Smith said.

West said he would be meeting with a lawyer on Sunday.
"We're going to talk about everything that happened. It would be one thing if this was like a trial, where I could present evidence and cross-examine … but I can't do that. I can't prove a negative," Smith said he was told by West.

"I don't have a chance because I can't account for my time 25 years ago," West told the newspaper editor.

Smith asked him why he hasn't talked to Spokesman-Review reporters since Wednesday, and why he has refused to defend himself if he believed he was being destroyed.

"I want to have a full statement relating to all of these charges. But I want to wait to see where things stop dribbling out (in the paper)," West responded to Smith.

West also said, "I was sure you would have another name in today's paper. Then I see this big story (about masturbation). But I was sure there would be another name and I was thinking, who? I don't know."
West denied "checking out" boys from Morning Star Boys' Ranch, but said he knew his late friend David Hahn was a volunteer there. Hahn's brother-in-law, Republican businessman Dick Walters, said Saturday he clearly remembers being told by Hahn that he and his good friend West both took Morning Star boys on trips in the late 1970s and 1980s.
West, who resigned last week from the boys ranch board of directors, later told Smith he "vaguely remembers" maybe he and Hahn "both took one kid on a hike or camping trip once."

The mayor also referred to a story in Saturday's paper in which a man named "Scott" said he was sexually molested by Hahn and reported the conduct to West during a 50-mile Boy Scout hike around Mount Rainier in 1980.

Smith said West "couldn't remember the kid. He doesn't recall the incident."

West said another adult on the trip, whom he didn't identify, "told him not to worry about it, that we didn't know about sexual abuse in 1980," Smith said in relating the mayor's comments.

But West also said, "It may be possible that the kid said something, maybe about being fondled, and maybe I just didn't recognize how important that might have been."

"If I knew and didn't do anything, then I have to apologize. I should have," West told Smith.

[Duck Dog]

And here I thought Washington was a liberal, gay friendly state.

:hmmm:

[Baby Lee]

involved creating a fictional teenager known as "Moto-Brock."
Not our Brock? Say it ain't so, Shane.

[RaiderH8r]

It just shows that he's "researched" the topic, and therefor is probably better suited to make that decision, eh Dense?

Maybe its just that difficult to find strait men to Employ in Spokane....
Opposition research... :hmmm:

[Duck Dog]

Also on Monday, a Spokane woman filed paperwork to recall the mayor. If the petition's wording is approved by a judge, recall supporters would have to gather more than 12,500 signatures to place the issue on the ballot.

The Spokesman-Review and The Seattle Times have called for West to step down, as did the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, D.C. a national gay advocacy organization.

LWNJ's showing their tolerance once again.

[patteeu]

I've read about this, and if it's true, it's disgusting, and he should lose his job. Basically New Jersey all over again, but on a local level.

Now is a bad time to be a gay Republican, that's for sure.

Where was the disgusting part, did Memyselfi leave half the article out of the OP?

I see that there were unsubstantiated, stale allegations about improper relations with "boys," but as far as the substantiated stuff, it looks like a a bunch of consenting adult stuff with a little bit of land-a-job-if-you-know-the-right-people stuff.

[patteeu]

Apparently, the "liberal" media isn't interested in Gay Republican scandals... Only land deals and straight-sex scandals.

Why is it a scandal when a Republican is gay?

[Duck Dog]

Why is it a scandal when a Republican is gay?


You didn't know? :)

Because liberals are only tolerant of gay democrats.

[patteeu]

Surely you jest...

Read about the guy's history and how anti-gay he's been politically and then look at what he did in the closet and consider how often this has happened to folks like him.

Did you leave the bad stuff that this guy is supposed to have done out or did I just miss it? FTR, gays don't have to be for so-called "gay rights" to be good gays. Just like blacks don't have to support affirmative action to be good blacks. And women don't have to support abortion to be good women.

[RaiderH8r]

Did you leave the bad stuff that this guy is supposed to have done out or did I just miss it? FTR, gays don't have to be for so-called "gay rights" to be good gays. Just like blacks don't have to support affirmative action to be good blacks. And women don't have to support abortion to be good women.
This statement would make sense a reasonable person...reasonable being the key word...reasonable.

[patteeu]

This statement would make sense a reasonable person...reasonable being the key word...reasonable.

That's a good point. I find the concept behind this thread to be jaw-droppingly shallow even for Memyselfi.

[|Zach|]

This statement would make sense a reasonable person...reasonable being the key word...reasonable.

When is the last time you actually came here with a post about politics?

It seems as late that your time here is exclusivley ripping on people. Just strikes me as strange. :hmmm:

[Bwana]

I thought this was a taliban Daknees coming out of the closet thread.

[RaiderH8r]

When is the last time you actually came here with a post about politics?

It seems as late that your time here is exclusivley ripping on people. Just strikes me as strange. :hmmm:
Do you really need political analysis to determine the possible fallout of these claims? If all claims are substantiated it is an end to the Mayor's political career...unless he switches parties and runs for a House seat in Massachusetts.

If the claims remain unsubstantiated it is still the end of his political career.

Forgive the pun, but he's f!cked.

[Duck Dog]

When is the last time you actually came here with a post about politics?

It seems as late that your time here is exclusivley ripping on people. Just strikes me as strange. :hmmm:


In this thread, he hasn't ripped on any "people" per se.

[DanT]

It sounds like some people went way the hell out of their way to bring harm to Mayor West. He has my sympathy.

[|Zach|]

Do you really need political analysis to determine the possible fallout of these claims? If all claims are substantiated it is an end to the Mayor's political career...unless he switches parties and runs for a House seat in Massachusetts.

If the claims remain unsubstantiated it is still the end of his political career.

Forgive the pun, but he's f!cked.

It really has nothing to do with this thread and more so to do with the fact your posts seem to be void of thought these days and overflowing with insults.

[Radar Chief]

It really has nothing to do with this thread and more so to do with the fact your posts seem to be void of thought these days and overflowing with insults.

Yea, and that’s like so unusual for this portion of CP. :p

[Iowanian]

Get back to me when he gets drunk and Drowns a local when he drives off of a bridge....that would Surely ruin his political ambitions.

[RaiderH8r]

It really has nothing to do with this thread and more so to do with the fact your posts seem to be void of thought these days and overflowing with insults.
Maybe we have a bit of miscommunication, but I'll have a look at my priors and check your assertion.

[|Zach|]

Yea, and that’s like so unusual for this portion of CP. :p

Heh, generally actual ideas and discussion are mixed in here and there with other regulars no matter how one sided these ideas might be. ROFL

[RaiderH8r]

Get back to me when he gets drunk and Drowns a local when he drives off of a bridge....that would Surely ruin his political ambitions.
One would imagine that would be the case but not on Massachusetts....Hence my observation that his career might survive if he switches parties and runs for the House seat there. Barney Frank seems to be doing OK in his bid for re-election.

[memyselfI]

Did you leave the bad stuff that this guy is supposed to have done out or did I just miss it? FTR, gays don't have to be for so-called "gay rights" to be good gays. Just like blacks don't have to support affirmative action to be good blacks. And women don't have to support abortion to be good women.

Ah, but the point is it's one thing not to in SUPPORT OF but to actively be working against something while at the same time doing it behind people's backs.

Wouldn't see the irony and hypocricy in an abortion foe who fought against abortion while simultaneously having one or more? :hmmm:

That is what this guy was doing.

[Baby Lee]

Ah, but the point is it's one thing not to in SUPPORT OF but to actively be working against something while at the same time doing it behind people's backs.

Wouldn't see the irony and hypocricy in an abortion foe who fought against abortion while simultaneously having one or more? :hmmm:

That is what this guy was doing.
I must've missed where he married a dude, or got partner healthcare benefits for a dude.
I can understand how someone like Kerry can be personally opposed to abortion due to his faith, but oppose government restricting it because he doesn't feel it's government's role to do so. Why can't you understand someone who is personally into dudes, but doesn't want the government to confer a special status to gays.
If the NFL was proposing a rule where TDs don't count if they're scored by passing on William Bartee, my opposition to that rule wouldn't make me anti-Chiefs.

[Cochise]

Another huge gay sex scandal... boy if it's as huge as the last one, the Reps are in real trouble :rolleyes:

Something tells me this story doesn't 'have legs'...

[Baby Lee]

Another huge gay sex scandal... boy if it's as huge as the last one, the Reps are in real trouble :rolleyes:

Something tells me this story doesn't 'have legs'...
But does it have 'knees?' :p

[patteeu]

Ah, but the point is it's one thing not to in SUPPORT OF but to actively be working against something while at the same time doing it behind people's backs.

Wouldn't see the irony and hypocricy in an abortion foe who fought against abortion while simultaneously having one or more? :hmmm:

That is what this guy was doing.

Specifically, what is it that you are accusing this guy of doing while he's publicly fighting against it?

[Baby Lee]

Specifically, what is it that you are accusing this guy of doing while he's publicly fighting against it?
Macking on dudes, while not towing the party line of the stereotypical progressive activist homo.

[patteeu]

Macking on dudes, while not towing the party line of the stereotypical progressive activist homo.

That's what I figured, but I thought it was possible I was missing something.

[Chief Henry]

Get back to me when he gets drunk and Drowns a local when he drives off of a bridge....that would Surely ruin his political ambitions.



Driving drunk off a bridge is NOT serious enough to deter the DEMS
or the media from squawking all over themselfs when they find
a fag in the republican party.

[Mr. Kotter]

Driving drunk off a bridge is NOT serious enough to deter the DEMS
or the media from squawking all over themselfs when they find
a fag in the republican party.

Whooooooooommmpppp! There it is.....

[memyselfI]

Specifically, what is it that you are accusing this guy of doing while he's publicly fighting against it?

Of doing?

Being a hypocrite. But as this article describes...he's far from alone.

http://www.raisingkaine.com/blog/?p=205



Starting to Sense a Pattern Here?
Filed under: Republicans— Lowell @ 10:48 am
This morning comes word that James E. West, the Republican Mayor of Spokane, Washington, is leaving two youth group boards amidst allegations that he molested two boys and “recently offer[ed] a City Hall internship to someone he met in a gay online chat room.” Interestingly, James E. West has long been an opponent of gay rights, including while he was State Senate majority leader.

Why does this story sound familiar? Perhaps because it seems to happen so often these days — anti-gay Republicans being outed (David Brock, Michael Huffington, and of course Virginia’s own Ed Schrock), busted for molesting boys (West), caught engaging in sex wih teenage male prostitutes (Robert Bauman) posting sexually explicit pictures of themselves on the internet (Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert), or heading to Massachusetts to marry their longtime gay lovers (Arthur Finkelstein), etc. We could go on and on.

The scary thing is that this list doesn’t even take into account all the ultra-moralist “conservatives” who have gotten into trouble for other vices: gambling (former Drug Czar, Bill “Book of Virtues” Bennett), drug abuse (Rush Limbaugh, George W. Bush), cheating on their wives (Newt Gingrich, Rudolph Guiliani, Rev. Jim Bakker, Neil Bush, Georgia Republican Congressman Bob Barr — also caught in photographs licking whipped cream off the breast of a stripper), engaging in sexually “inappropriate” behavior with female employees (conservative talk show host Bill O’Reilly, Family Research Council’s Gary Bauer, Republican Congressmen Dan Burton and Dan Crane, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, former Republican Senator Bob Packwood, - 10,000 pages of evidence against him), and pressuring their wives to perform sex acts in public at sex clubs (former Illinois Republican US Senate candidate, Jack Ryan).

Starting to sense a pattern here? For instance, that the same people who love preaching strict “family values,” intolerance, and harsh judgmentalism towards various “vices” are among the biggest “sinners” themselves? Interestingly, psychological studies have shown that the most intolerant people tend to also be the most repressed. One well-known example was the 1996 University of Georgia study, which found that 80% of homophobic men showed some degree of arousal when shown male homosexual videos. In contrast, only 34% of non-homophobic men showed such arousal.

As the lead researcher on the homophobia study, Henry Adams, said back in the February 1997 Esquire Magazine “Men who are upset by being around gay men probably have these tendencies themselves. The thing you dislike most in yourself is the kind of thing you might jump on somebody else for.” Wow. Who woulda thunk it? Hmmmm…..

[Calcountry]

Gee, and RWNJs wonder why those on the other side are so curious about the level of contempt and fear they exhibit. :shake: ROFL

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/10/AR2005051000224.html

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/05/spokanes-anti-gay-mayor-former-state.html

Wash. Mayor Taking Leave Amid Allegations

By JOHN K. WILEY
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 10, 2005; 1:40 PM

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Citing what he called persecution and hysteria, Mayor Jim West says he's taking a few weeks off to defend himself against allegations of child molestation and new claims that he offered city jobs to men he met online.

Shortly after West announced Monday that he would take a leave of absence, The Spokesman-Review posted a new story on its Web page alleging the mayor offered city jobs to two young men he met through a gay Internet chat room _ and that one of them briefly accepted a city appointment.



James E. West is shown in this Oct. 14, 2003 file photo, in Spokane, Wash., before he became Spokane mayor.This week's revelations that Mayor James West was a closeted bisexual _ and has been accused of pedophilia by two alleged victims _ were a shock to residents of this eastern Washington city. But it comes as no surprise to many that West is vowing to stay in his job. (AP Photo/Jeff T. Green, file) (Jeff T. Green/str - AP)

The newspaper last week launched a series of articles about West, a conservative Republican who has opposed gay rights. It said it hired a computer forensics expert who posed as an 18-year-old male high school student in Internet chats with West on Gay.com. West offered the "teen" a City Hall internship, tickets to professional sporting events and other gifts, the newspaper reported.

In Monday's account, Ryan Oelrich, an openly gay 24-year-old, told the paper he accepted West's appointment to the city's Human Rights Commission in April 2004. He suspected a man he had chatted with online at Gay.com was West, but didn't find out until after he was hired, Oelrich said Tuesday.

Oelrich said he had initially thought West was appointing him to the commission because of his background as director of the nonprofit Gay Youth Association. He also owns a business that makes balloon sculptures for entertainment and other events.

"At first, my thought was, 'I'm here, I might as well do the best I can,'" he said. "But as time progressed and I had further interactions with the mayor, I had a feeling in back of my mind ... `What if anybody found out? How stupid would I look.' I don't want to be a person who obtained a position because someone was romantically interested in me."

Oelrich said Tuesday that he thinks West is being unfairly maligned, but should resign.

Oelrich told the newspaper he knows of "five or six other young gay men that Jim West has met online and offered City Hall jobs."

The newspaper said another man, who is 25 and spoke on condition of anonymity, said West, who is divorced, offered him a job as the city's human resources director and then a post as the city's aquatics director. The man said he rejected both offers.

Calls placed late Monday to the mayor's office and City Attorney Mike Connelly seeking comment on the latest allegations were not immediately returned. City officials had earlier seized West's City Hall computer for an investigation into whether he used it improperly.

"The current news media hysteria is distracting to the business of the city and is occupying a great deal of my time," West told the City Council on Monday afternoon.

He said he would take his first vacation since taking office in January 2004 to prepare a response to the newspaper's allegations. He told the council that Deputy Mayor Jack Lynch would lead the city in his absence.

"I hope that you and the people will reserve judgment on me until the newspaper is done persecuting me and allow me to have the fair opportunity to respond to each of the allegations in due time," West said.

West, a 54-year-old former state Senate leader, last week denied the decades-old molestation allegations, but acknowledged that he had visited the gay online chat room and had relations with adult men.

In the series it began publishing last Thursday, The Spokesman-Review reported allegations that West had abused two boys while he was a sheriff's deputy and Boy Scout leader in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The statute of limitations has expired on those old allegations and no criminal investigations were under way in connection with them, local law enforcement agencies said.

Also on Monday, a Spokane woman filed paperwork to recall the mayor. If the petition's wording is approved by a judge, recall supporters would have to gather more than 12,500 signatures to place the issue on the ballot.

The Spokesman-Review and The Seattle Times have called for West to step down, as did the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, D.C. a national gay advocacy organization.So, Meme, just what is again about George W Bush that you don't like so much?

Perhaps you are the most repressed, vile, lying war monger that ever lived.

[Baby Lee]

The scary thing is that this list doesn’t even take into account all the ultra-moralist “conservatives” who have gotten into trouble for other vices: gambling (former Drug Czar, Bill “Book of Virtues” Bennett), drug abuse (Rush Limbaugh, George W. Bush), cheating on their wives (Newt Gingrich, Rudolph Guiliani, Rev. Jim Bakker, Neil Bush, Georgia Republican Congressman Bob Barr — also caught in photographs licking whipped cream off the breast of a stripper), engaging in sexually “inappropriate” behavior with female employees (conservative talk show host Bill O’Reilly, Family Research Council’s Gary Bauer, Republican Congressmen Dan Burton and Dan Crane, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, former Republican Senator Bob Packwood, - 10,000 pages of evidence against him), and pressuring their wives to perform sex acts in public at sex clubs (former Illinois Republican US Senate candidate, Jack Ryan).

Starting to sense a pattern here? For instance, that the same people who love preaching strict “family values,” intolerance, and harsh judgmentalism towards various “vices” are among the biggest “sinners” themselves?
1. I 'sense a pattern' of conflating accusations and established facts.
2. I 'sense a pattern' of conflating the taking of conservative positions on an issue, or set of issues, and being intolerant and judgmental about everything.
3. I 'sense a pattern' of supposedly libertine partisans keeping real close, creepily close, track of the 'failings' of people they perceive to be their enemies.

[Baby Lee]

So, Meme, just what is again about George W Bush that you don't like so much?

Perhaps you are the most repressed, vile, lying war monger that ever lived.
Good point. Perhaps if, the thing you dislike most in yourself is the kind of thing you might jump on somebody else for, Mememe is haunted by her base knowledge that she's a mumbling idiot prone to war.

[memyselfI]

So, Meme, just what is again about George W Bush that you don't like so much?

Perhaps you are the most repressed, vile, lying war monger that ever lived.

Unlikely, as I disliked DUHbya even before he proved himself to be a vile lying war monger...

[Calcountry]

Unlikely, as I disliked DUHbya even before he proved himself to be a vile lying war monger...Nope, you are just like him, you need to be true to yourself and come out.

[KCWolfman]

Wow, this is huge.

I would put it right up their with gay bloggers getting White House passes.

[Cochise]

.

[GoChiefs]

.

That is brilliant.

[patteeu]

Of doing?

Being a hypocrite. But as this article describes...he's far from alone.

Well, when I said "specifics" I really meant that I wanted you to give me specific examples that would support your vague charges rather than a more specific charge that still remains unsupported.

So, if your primary accusation is hypocrisy you would give me a specific statement (or at least a paraphrased statement) that he's made that conflicts with a specific action that he's taken.

Let me give you a hypothetical to illustrate what I'm talking about. Imagine that this guy had made speeches in which he argued that gay people should not be allowed to hold government jobs and now we find that he actually knowingly placed a few gay people in government jobs. THAT would be hypocrisy and my hypothetical is an example of supplying specifics to support the charge.

Want to give it another try? I'll be gone for a few days, but I'll check back and see what you come up with when I can.

[patteeu]

Well, when I said "specifics" I really meant that I wanted you to give me specific examples that would support your vague charges rather than a more specific charge that still remains unsupported.

So, if your primary accusation is hypocrisy you would give me a specific statement (or at least a paraphrased statement) that he's made that conflicts with a specific action that he's taken.

Let me give you a hypothetical to illustrate what I'm talking about. Imagine that this guy had made speeches in which he argued that gay people should not be allowed to hold government jobs and now we find that he actually knowingly placed a few gay people in government jobs. THAT would be hypocrisy and my hypothetical is an example of supplying specifics to support the charge.

Want to give it another try? I'll be gone for a few days, but I'll check back and see what you come up with when I can.

Has anyone seen Memyselfi slithering around here anywhere?

[Radar Chief]

Has anyone seen Memyselfi slithering around here anywhere?

:LOL: Good luck with that. ;)