http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBGLWHGHAE.htmlSpokane, Wash., Mayor Appeals Ruling Allowing Recall Petition to Go Forward
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - Lawyers for Mayor James E. West, accused of offering city jobs to men he met in a gay online chat room, are appealing a judge's ruling allowing a recall petition drive to proceed.
West, former state Senate leader and opponent of gay rights, has denied any criminal or unethical conduct and has rejected calls to resign.
"The citizens of Spokane deserve to know why I have decided to appeal," West wrote in a letter submitted to The Spokesman-Review newspaper. "Simply put, it is because the charges are false, and the ballot statement they would vote on was improperly prepared and is prejudicial."
Spokane resident Shannon Sullivan filed recall documents in May, shortly after The Spokesman-Review published a series of articles alleging West sexually abused two boys in the 1970s and 1980s.