Council urges speedy recall review

The Spokane City Council wants a speedy appeal of a recall petition against Mayor Jim West in the wake of a sexual impropriety scandal that became public this spring.

The council on Tuesday voted 6-1 in favor of a resolution urging parties to the appeal to seek a fast review by the Washington State Supreme Court.

The court on Friday said it would decide on July 14 when to hear the appeal of the recall petition.

Recall sponsor Shannon Sullivan last week said she wants the case heard as quickly as possible. Recall supporters must await the outcome of the appeal before they can start gathering the 12,567 signatures needed to force the issue on the ballot, a task recall proponents were hoping to accomplish in time for the November city election.

West, meanwhile, said hurrying up the case is fine with him.

“My lawyers and I have no objection to the court deciding if it suits them to have an expedited appeal if it fits in their schedule and as long as the lawyers on both sides are provided with enough time to prepare briefs and necessary court documents,” West said in an e-mail.

“We’re as interested as everyone to have this matter resolved,” West said.

The mayor has said he appealed because he believes the ballot synopsis written by Superior Court Judge Craig Matheson is not fair to him. Matheson rewrote the ballot synopsis, as the law requires, after a hearing on June 13 when he approved one of three recall charges brought by Sullivan.

Councilman Brad Stark cast the only dissenting vote on the resolution brought by Councilwoman Mary Verner. Stark did not explain during Tuesday’s meeting why he voted no, but previously has said he believes the council should concentrate on city business and not the mayor’s troubles. Stark has also been close to the mayor. They campaigned for their offices together in 2003.

Verner initially sought a resolution calling on West to abandon the appeal, but offered an amendment Tuesday night changing the wording to call for a speedy appeal. She acknowledged that West has the prerogative to appeal the case.

Councilman Al French said, “We are very anxious to get on with business.”

Council President Dennis Hession pointed out the council did not create the circumstances that led to the scandal and recall effort, but needs to show leadership in the midst of the controversy.

He encouraged Sullivan and the mayor to come up with a ballot title that would satisfy both sides.

The recall charge centers around West’s use of e-mails and instant messaging to establish personal contact and to make a City Hall internship available to a man West believed was an 18-year-old high school student.

West met the man through a gay Internet chat room, but later learned he was a computer expert hired by The Spokesman-Review to confirm a report by a young Spokane man that West was seeking dates online. The newspaper published results of its investigation beginning May 5.

In a related matter, the council was told Monday that a third member has resigned from a city task force formed to look into the mayor’s use of his computer and his internship program.

Retired Judge Harold Clarke, who served on a similar task force looking into an accident at the city’s wastewater plant in 2004, stepped down for personal reasons, said City Attorney Mike Connelly.

Already, Professor Tom Trulove, of Eastern Washington University, and retired Judge Philip Thompson have resigned from what had been a five-member panel.

That leaves J. Michael Stebbins, director of the Gonzaga University Institute of Ethics, and Nancy Isserlis, a Spokane attorney, as the only remaining members.

Connelly told the council that he would ask Stebbins and Isserlis whether they want to add new members to the task force, which has not met since June 24.

Former Councilman Steve Eugster has filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the task force. The suit names each of the panel members individually, including those who have resigned.

Connelly on Monday asked the City Council to cover the legal liability of each panel member. A resolution establishing indemnity will be considered by the council on Monday. Connelly also said that the panel will not resume its work until the Eugster lawsuit is settled. A hearing in the case is expected next week, he said.

Connelly said Clarke had never been named in a lawsuit in his law career spanning nearly 50 years, and that he had become the target of controversy when he volunteered to join the panel.

During testimony before the council Tuesday, one of the leading proponents of the recall said there is no effort to rob West of his right to due process. “No one is trying to take that away from him,” said Rita Amunrud of Citizens for Integrity in Government.