Voter poll finds solid support for recall

If the Dec. 6 recall election were held this week, more than twice as many people would vote to recall Mayor Jim West as would vote to keep him in office, the poll conducted for The Spokesman-Review and KREM 2 News shows. Less than one voter in 10 is undecided.

“Very bluntly, it would take a real catastrophic set of events for the majority of voters to vote against the recall,” said Del Ali, president of Research 2000, which conducted the poll.

In the poll, 62 percent said they’d vote to recall West, 29 percent would vote to keep him – a ratio that Ali described as “a deep hole.”

To survive the recall, West would probably have to “garnish sympathy and discredit the news accounts,” the pollster said.

In an interview Thursday afternoon, West attributed his poor showing to an onslaught of newspaper accounts of allegations involving misuse of his office and sexual molestation. He has denied breaking any laws, but admitted to poor judgment in his private life.

“It doesn’t surprise me, considering the job The Spokesman-Review has done in the last few months pounding me,” he said.

West contended the numbers in the survey were “a great deal different” than those reported last week by KXLY-TV.

But the two surveys have some differences in the way they were conducted. In the KXLY survey – which contacted 195 city residents over a two-week period ending last Thursday – nearly 51 percent said they would vote for the recall, about 30 percent said they’d vote against it and 18.5 percent were undecided. Respondents weren’t asked if they were voters.

For The Spokesman-Review/KREM 2 News poll, voters on lists purchased by the polling firm were contacted and questioned only if they said they definitely or probably planned to vote in the upcoming election

West insisted neither poll is important, ultimately. “The only poll that matters is the poll that’s taken on Election Day.”

Between now and the special all-mail election that ends Dec. 6, West said he will try to convince voters that city government has improved under his leadership and Spokane is getting stronger economically, as shown by such things as the increase in businesses and building permits.

“We’re making significant progress,” he said.

The poll, however, suggests that is a difficult sell. Asked to rate the job West has done as mayor since taking office in 2004, only 39 percent said they approved of his job performance, while 47 percent disapprove.

While West can take some comfort in the fact that his disapproval rating is below 50 percent, Ali said, the public perception of his job “has taken a hit.”

Bob Drzymkowski, one of those polled, said in a follow-up interview that he strongly approves of the way West is handling the job of mayor. But he’ll still vote in favor of the recall because of concerns over West’s ethics.

“Just because he’s doing a good job, he can’t do anything he wants,” said Drzymkowski.

Pollsters also asked voters to rate the job the City Council is doing, and their ratings were similar, with 36 percent saying they approve and 46 percent disapproving. But, as Ali noted, “the council is not facing recall.”

West said he’s not surprised his job approval ratings are low, but believes they’ve “changed significantly since the newspaper has hammered me.” He declined to comment on the council’s performance ratings, but contended the city’s image is suffering because it is portrayed in the news media as “dysfunctional – and we’re not.”

“I think the distinction the newspaper’s brought to the city is reminiscent of what it was going on with River Park Square,” West said.

The city was involved in protracted litigation over the financially troubled River Park Square parking garage for nearly five years with the mall’s owners and others connected to a public-private partnership. The mall development companies are owned by Cowles Publishing Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review.

West’s administration settled the lawsuits last year and this year, finding solutions that eluded his two predecessors.

West has stepped up his criticism of the newspaper in recent weeks. Last month he sent a fund-raising letter to former supporters, blasting the paper and its editor, Steven A. Smith, for “bully tactics” that invaded his privacy and created stories based on “false allegations.”

But the poll suggests West may have trouble keeping his office solely by attacking the news media, Ali said. The coverage is pervasive, with 97 percent saying they have read or seen some news of West’s conduct.

“He’s got to change the paradigm. He’s going to have to discredit the basic story,” Ali said.

And The Spokesman-Review and local television stations have stronger approval ratings than West.

For the newspaper, the public seems about evenly divided on whether they approve or disapprove of the way it covers stories about West’s conduct. While 41 percent of voters surveyed disapprove – 10 percent of them strongly – of the way the newspaper has covered the story, 43 percent approve, 11 percent of them strongly.

For local television coverage of West’s conduct, 38 percent of voters polled disapprove, with 9 percent of them strongly disapproving; 45 percent approve, 11 percent strongly.

Ali believes voters are saying they might be happier if the investigation of West had been started by the FBI or some other agency.

If there is one “silver lining” in the poll for West, it might be in one of the last questions of the survey. Voters were asked what they thought should happen to a government official who used a government-owned computer for “personal activity of a sexual nature.”

Only about one in five said that person should always lose their job. More than half – 55 percent – said that whether the government official is dismissed should depend on circumstances.

Margo Beal, another voter surveyed and then contacted for a follow-up interview, said that if it wasn’t a recurring problem, an employee might keep his or her job if he or she gave assurances it would never happen again and was held accountable. .

Beal said West may still be qualified to be mayor and doing a good job overall. But she worries his problems are overshadowing the other work he’s trying to do and fighting the recall may distract him.

“It might be easier on everyone, and the economy, for him to step down and get things straightened out,” she suggested. “Then he can run again if he can get everything straightened out.”

The poll suggests to Ali that voters are trying to be fair-minded and might reject the recall if he can explain his activity to their satisfaction.

“He would absolutely have to come clean. People would want to know what the circumstances are, what’s on his (computer’s) hard drive,” Ali said.

West said he plans to make his pitch to the people over the next six weeks.

“That’s who I need to communicate with,” he said. “I’ll present a message and the people can decide.”