Washington State: Supreme Court allows mayor recall to proceed
AP reports: The Washington State Supreme Court yesterday affirmed a judge's ruling that a recall petition against Spokane Mayor Jim West can proceed.
Just hours after lawyers for West argued that the petition by Shannon Sullivan was factually and legally insufficient, the high court affirmed a lower-court ruling that the document bearing a single abuse-of-office allegation could proceed to signature gathering.
Sullivan filed her recall petition in May, shortly after The Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane published a series of articles detailing how West — a conservative Republican, former state senator and longtime gay-rights opponent — had been meeting men online for sex.
Her petition alleges that West used his elected office for personal gain — specifically, that West wrote a recommendation letter to help someone he believed to be an 18-year-old man get a City Hall internship. The teen turned out to be a computer forensics expert hired by The Spokesman-Review. ...
Spokane County Elections Supervisor Paul Brandt said it would be very difficult to get the required 12,600 valid signatures in time for an election this fall.
Brandt said the elections office would have to receive the signed petitions no later than tomorrow, because it will need four weeks to verify them and take other steps necessary to get the recall on the Nov. 8 ballot. -- Court upholds recall petition of Jim West
Looks like West got at least part of what he wanted. As Edward Bennett Williams used to say, "A delay is as good as an acquittal, but it doesn't last as long."