City considers recall measure

Elected Spokane city officials who violate a new city ethics code could find themselves facing voters in a recall election if five out of seven City Council members agree.

A proposal to create a Spokane city recall process is among reforms resulting from last year’s protracted but successful effort by voters to oust Mayor Jim West.

City Council members next week are scheduled to take public comment and then vote on a resolution placing a recall provision before city voters as a charter amendment this November.

Mayor Dennis Hession, who was elevated from his former position as council president last December after West’s recall, is pushing the measure along with Councilman Al French.

They, along with other council members, supported a new ethics code adopted by the City Council last Jan. 17 as the first post-West reform.

West died July 22 from complications from surgery after a three-year battle with colon cancer.

The ethics code calls for establishing a seven-member ethics commission, but that commission has not been created, in part because of restrictions placed on the makeup of the body.

Council members will consider a separate ordinance Monday to change the makeup of the commission so that it would no longer require a retired judge to be among the commissioners, but rather a person with professional legal experience.

Hession said he plans to announce his nominations for the commission this week.

The commission is a pivotal enforcement body in the recall proposal. Under the proposal, the commission would investigate and then make a recommendation to the City Council for potential recall of a mayor, council president or council member for an “egregious” violation of the ethics policy.

Hession and Councilman Al French both said they are working on coming up with a more specific definition of what constitutes an egregious violation.

The City Council could then place the recall before voters, but it would require at least a 5-2 vote.

Hession said he wanted to design the city’s recall provision to protect against purely political maneuverings among elected officials.

“It can’t be just political infighting that dictates this process,” Hession said in pointing out the power the plan gives to the ethics commission and voters.

Last year, a group of city voters led by a North Side mother brought a recall petition against West for misuse of his office, but they had to win an appeal by West before the state Supreme Court before they could gather signatures to force the recall onto the ballot late last fall.

At the time, Hession, council members and other city leaders were pressuring West to resign, but West insisted that the voters should have the final say even while he appealed their petition.

“It was a very protracted process and it lasted many months just to get to whether or not the petition was legally adequate to be able to submit it to the public for their vote,” Hession said. “The process seemed more cumbersome than it ought to be, and it would likely discourage people from pursuing a recall process.”

The city’s recall proposal would likely streamline the recall process, he said.

Last year’s recall was brought against West under a state law that requires a petition to be filed in Superior Court and reviewed and approved by a judge before signatures could be gathered. The proposed city recall measure would not prevent citizens from pursuing recall petitions under state law.

Hession and the City Council have received two legal opinions – one from an independent private attorney in Seattle and one from an assistant Spokane city attorney – indicating that Spokane can legally establish a separate city recall process.

Seattle’s recall law allows the City Council, by a two-thirds majority, to remove the mayor for willful violation of duty or the commission of an offense involving moral turpitude.

Among its provisions, Spokane’s ethics code prohibits using city office or property for personal benefit, accepting or giving gifts and favors, improperly using city personnel and gaining monetary or private benefit from city contracts.