The Wild Wild West

Here is a story that just keeps on giving:

Spokane Mayor Jim West's city-owned computer contains 1,800 files – at least half of them photos – that he doesn't want the public to see, according to court papers filed Friday.

The files apparently include photos of young men the mayor met on gay Web sites using his city-owned computer, according to documents produced by City Hall. His files of "personal social contacts" also apparently include message exchanges with young men.

"From what I've been told by a city attorney, the mayor's computer contains pornographic pictures and probably very sexually descriptive correspondence with people he met on chat lines with his City Hall computer," said City Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers.

West did not answer when asked Friday by e-mail why he is putting up a legal fight to keep contents of his City Hall computer from being released.

"Mayor West is unavailable today for comment," his attorneys, Bill Etter and Carl Oreskovich, responded in a statement.

Contacted by telephone, West declined to answer questions. "Talk to my attorneys," he said.

Don't forget: Jim West "championed an anti-gay agenda during his tenure as one of the most powerful Republicans in the [Washington] Legislature."