SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - Lawyers for Mayor James West, accused of offering city jobs to men he met in a gay online chat room, asked the state Supreme Court on Thursday to reject a recall effort seeking to remove him from office.
They argued that a Superior Court judge erred in allowing a recall proposal to go forward, and in rewriting the proposal after it was originally submitted.
"May a public official be subject to a recall election for engaging in private online conversations and e-mail correspondence using his own computer equipment on his own time?" West's appeal asked.
The recall effort contends West, a former state Senate leader who often voted against gay rights issues, misused his office and city equipment by offering City Hall jobs and perks to young men he was seeking to date through Internet Web sites.
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