12,700 names collected for recall

Supporters of a petition drive to put the recall of Spokane Mayor Jim West to a vote said Tuesday they have gathered about 12,700 signatures.

That would be enough to get the proposal on an upcoming ballot if every one of the signatures was from a registered city voter. But recall author Shannon Sullivan said they’d keep collecting signatures at least through the week in an effort to get a 5,000-signature cushion, in case some signatures are from people who either aren’t registered voters or don’t live in the city.

“I think we’re moving real quickly for 11 days,” Sullivan said, adding volunteers will be gathering signatures for “as long as it takes.”

The group is also trying to get people who took one or two petitions with plans to gather signatures on their own to return those petitions to the group’s “drive-through” site at 2319 N. Division. Major collection efforts at Pig Out at the Park, NorthTown Mall and Rosauers turned in their petitions, but Sullivan believes some individual sheets are still out.

“There’s a few out there, we don’t have an exact number,” she said.

The group has nearly six months to gather signatures, but wants to turn in petitions as soon as possible in hopes of getting the issue on the Nov. 8 general election ballot, she said. County Auditor Vicky Dalton has said that’s unlikely, given the amount of time needed to check signatures and the work her office must do for the Sept. 20 primary.

The recall effort, and Mayor West’s response to it, also reported their contributions and expenses to the state’s Public Disclosure Commission.

Petition supporters, registered as the Recall Signature Team, have collected $3,671 in cash donations, none from a donor that gave more than $250; it has spent about $3,800, mostly on printing costs, and the expense of a trip to Olympia to argue the recall case before the state Supreme Court.

The pro-recall committee also shows more than $19,000 for donated legal expenses from three attorneys who worked with Sullivan after a Superior Court judge ruled she presented enough information to begin gathering signatures for the recall petition. That ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court, which heard the case during a special session in late August.

Three lawyers reported in-kind contributions of more than 155 hours of legal work.

West said Tuesday afternoon that his campaign group, the Committee for Spokane’s Progress, has received about $600 in unsolicited contributions. His only expenses have been the bills from his attorneys connected to the recall petition as it worked its way through the court system. Those bills total about $85,000, he said.

“I haven’t paid it, but that’s what I owe,” West said.