West uses selective language in appeal to keep his job

The newspaper ad titled “Be Sure to Return Your Ballot; Vote ‘No’ Recall,” purchased by the Committee for Spokane’s Progress, covered a half-page in the first section of Friday’s Spokesman-Review, with a black-and-white picture and a letter from Mayor Jim West that begins “Dear Friends.”

The letter restates West’s position on the recall, starting with an apology and a request for a second chance “to keep working for a better Spokane,” and his contention that voters have not heard the full story about the allegations.

It says the city is making progress and voters are the “jury” who decide whether charges in the recall are true. He contends the charges are false, says “no prosecutor or independent tribunal has even charged me with a crime” and says despite a three-year investigation the newspaper “has not turned up one intern or employee who has accused me of official misdeeds.”

It repeats a description of newspaper coverage from Spokesman-Review Editor Steven A. Smith in the Seattle Times that “we are grinding him (West) into dust” and a quote from Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders that “no evidence has been presented to infer Mayor West committed acts of misfeasance.”

It closes with a request that people vote no and mail their ballots promptly.

Recall committee’s stance

David Bray, chairman of the Committee to Recall Jim West, said the ad comes too late to affect the election, but criticized it for taking things out of context: “The mayor dances with the truth, and he leaves out a whole lot.”

The mayor’s stance

West said no one is sure how many voters are undecided and have yet to mark their ballots, but he’s trying to reinforce his message with those who are out there. Bray, he contended, “doesn’t know what the truth is.”

The bottom line

The ad seems to be an attempt by the mayor to confront what he sees is the source of the campaign against him, the newspaper, in its own pages.

The photograph of a smiling West, which comes from his successful 2003 campaign, shows a different image from what voters now see of the mayor, who has been under fire for six months and is undergoing chemotherapy.

The first half of the ad essentially restates his response on the ballot, but the second half is crafted to rebut his critics through selective language.

For example, while “no intern or employee” has accused him of misdeeds, one of his appointees, Ryan Oelrich, did.

West has not been charged with a crime, but he is being investigated by the FBI, and an investigator hired by the City Council contends he violated state law and city policies.

Smith’s full quote in the Times story is a discussion of covering the scandal for months:

“And there are days I don’t feel really great about it. Proud of our journalism.

“But I feel like this guy is standing up there and allowing us to whack away at him. And we’re grinding him into dust.”

Sanders’ quote is from two different sections of his opinion, and the first part actually comes later in the opinion than the second part.

But Sanders was the sole dissenter in an 8-1 decision that allowed the recall to go forward; the other justices ruled there were sufficient grounds to put the issue before voters.