Mayor of Spokane says he won't quit

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Despite growing demands that he step down, Mayor James E. West said Tuesday he will not resign after he was outed as a closeted homosexual. He also denied any misuse of his office and said he is innocent of allegations that he molested two boys decades ago.

In an advisory vote Tuesday night, just hours after West appeared before a nationwide audience on NBC's "Today Show," the Spokane City Council voted unanimously to ask him to resign. The 55-year-old mayor can only be removed from office by recall. A group of residents has begun circulating a recall petition.

West told the "Today Show" that he voted against gay rights bills in the state Legislature because that is what his conservative district wanted.

"My mail and e-mails are running two to one in favor of me not resigning," West said in his first public interview since the allegations were raised in early May. "You should not be run out for simple allegations because then you could run anybody out of office."

West has been under fire since May 5, when The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported allegations that he sexually molested two boys when he was a sheriff's deputy and Boy Scout leader in the late 1970s and early 1980s. West has vehemently denied those allegations.

The newspaper also reported that West trolled gay chat rooms and offered city jobs and other perks to young men he met there. The FBI has launched an inquiry into whether he committed criminal acts with those offers. The city has appointed a commission to determine whether he violated policies against misuse of computers.

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