Mayor Visited Gay Sites on City Laptop

SPOKANE, WA -- Spokane Mayor James E. West used his city computer to check out online profiles of gay men while traveling on official business, The Spokesman-Review reported Saturday.

The history of the embattled mayor's computer use was found in files on a CD that City Hall attorneys released to the newspaper this past week. The paper said the information contradicted West's repeated claims that he did not access gay Web sites during workdays.

Attorneys for West, who faces a Dec. 6 recall election, defended him in a statement released Friday afternoon. They said Web sites the mayor visited while traveling in Washington, D.C., on March 22 and April 5, and in Philadelphia on May 2 were made "after regular business hours, Eastern Standard Time."

"On May 5, 2005, the mayor stated he visited Web sites but not on city time or at City Hall," the statement said. "Mayor West was told, which is consistent with city policy, that he could use the city computer for personal uses when he traveled."

According to the city's Internet access policy employees are allowed limited use of the Internet, but are not allowed to visit pornographic or obscene web sites.

In an effort to prevent the release of a second CD, West's lawyers are pressing court charges. The second CD is supposedly containing offensive material, including the identities and pictures of thousands of men who West wants to keep secret.