Activists call on mayor to resign

Debbie Brown, a mother of two, has never seen herself as an activist.

She doesn’t write letters to the editor, participate in protests or publicly display her politics.

But the scandal that has engulfed Mayor Jim West and the city saddened and enraged her to the point where she decided this week that she could no longer do nothing.

So she painted a message on the rear window of her white Toyota van: “Jim West Resign.” Then she and her daughter joined at least 50 other people to demonstrate Friday morning in front of City Hall.

They showed up at 8 a.m. to wave signs and march around the downtown building in protest of the mayor. “West Must Go,” a few of their banners declared. “If he stays, we will pay.”

While a few entering City Hall tried to ignore them, the protesters received the occasional thumbs up from passers-by, as well as waves and honks from drivers along Lincoln Street and Spokane Falls Boulevard. A few people also resurrected the neon yellow T-shirts from Tom Grant’s 2003 campaign for mayor. Grant, who now works as a TV news anchor in Wyoming, lost to West in the election.

“I want my city back,” said Brown, who moved to Spokane in 1987 because she heard it was a good place to raise children. “What’s happening (with the mayor) is just breaking my heart. We need to take a stand.

“The man has no character. If he had character, he would step down.”

In a related development, City Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers said Mayor Jim West has requested a one-week postponement of a vote on her resolution calling for West to resign. All seven council members have indicated they will vote in favor of the resignation call, and Rodgers said it is unlikely West’s request would be granted.

“It’s his little power play,” Rodgers said. “He’s trying to get back in control. It’s kind of too late.”

West is traveling to Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday for a three-day meeting on federal grant funding.

Friday’s last-minute, impromptu protest began as a result of a phone call to Mark Fuhrman’s radio talk show earlier this week. Tom Terry, a truck driver for Spokane County, told listeners he was mad that the mayor has refused to step down and declared his intention to stand in front of City Hall early Friday.

He was joined by his wife, Diane, his 14-year-old daughter, Maurine, and dozens of others who heard his rally cry.

“(West) is giving Spokane a bad name,” said Maurine Terry, a student at Glover Middle School who waved a sign that said: “Scream and shout, kick him out.”

C.J. Porter, who brought chocolate cookies to share, said she was compelled to speak out by what some perceived as the community’s lack of indignation at the mayor’s behavior.

“The apathy makes me madder than the mayor,” said Porter, who distributed fliers in pink that said “Welcome to Spokane: Perverts R Us” and “Mothers Against Youth Objectification and Recruitment.”

“Where’s the outrage?” Porter asked. “What does it take?”

Bud Lindsey, a Spokane native who voted for West, said fixing Spokane requires more than fixing the roads and worrying about the city’s economy and aesthetic qualities. It also means having a mayor who’s a role model for the rest of the community, he said.

Those who spoke out against West on Friday morning also were joined by several members of the local Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and its supporters.

Speaking as a victim of clergy sexual abuse and also as a conservative Republican, Ron Honner said that as much as he had admired West in the past, the mayor “is not morally suited for the job.”

“What else will he do to compromise our city?” Honner asked.

When the Survivors Network and its advocates in 2003 asked legislative leaders to strengthen laws to protect minors against abuse, West never returned their calls, said Michael Ross, co-founder of the local support group for clergy abuse victims.

Duane Rasmussen, an attorney representing victims of abuse and also a conservative Republican, said that based on the allegations and West’s own admission, he was embarrassed that someone from his political party would use the trappings of his office to date young men. He’s also disturbed by the allegations that West molested two boys when he was a Boy Scout leader.

“This (sex abuse) problem needs to be cleaned up in this town,” Rasmussen said.