Sunday, November 22, 2009

A SPOKESMAN-REVIEW INVESTIGATIVE REPORT

West denies having online sex in office

Mike Prager / Staff writer

May 8, 2005

© The Spokesman-Review 2005

Spokane Mayor Jim West on Sunday denied that he told City Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers that he had online sex in his City Hall office.

Rodgers said she stands by the account she gave to The Spokesman-Review.

The mayor, through a city spokeswoman, issued a press release at 9:19 a.m. this morning, saying “he never masturbated in his City Hall office and that Council member Rodgers had drawn the wrong conclusion.”

Rodgers did not back down from her account of their conversation, which she said happened Thursday morning after The Spokesman-Review published stories detailing allegations of child sex abuse against West and his use of city computers to solicit dates on Gay.com.

“He called me at 5:30 this morning, of course,” Rodgers said on Sunday. “He said, ‘I did not masturbate in my office when I was on the online chat room.’

“I said, ‘You told me you used city computers. You told me that … You also told me there was mutual masturbation.’ ”

West reacted quickly to Sunday's news story about his office activities. After calling Rodgers by telephone at home, he called Steven A. Smith, editor of The Spokesman-Review.

He was initially emotional, slightly choked up, but otherwise calm and soft-spoken, Smith said.

“I didn't do it,” West told Smith, referring to the child sex abuse allegations.

West went on to say, “I didn't masturbate in my office. Never. Not ever. There was a misunderstanding. Cherie (Rodgers) misunderstood me.”

A few hours later, Marlene Feist, the city's public affairs officer, issued the press release.

“Mayor James West and Council Member Cherie Rodgers agreed early Sunday morning that there was a possible misunderstanding between them,” the release said.

But Rodgers told the newspaper she still believes the mayor told her he had online sex from his office.

During an interview on Saturday with Spokesman-Review reporter Karen Dorn Steele, Rodgers gave the following account of her Thursday morning conversation with West:

Rodgers: “He said one part is true. I said, what's that? And he said, ‘I did use city computers.’ ”

Dorn Steele: “To do what?”

Rodgers: “He said for the online chat. He said we masturbated.”

Dorn Steele: “So he’s admitting to you that they masturbated at City Hall?”

Rodgers: “Yes. That’s the way I took it. He was talking about the City Hall computer, and he says we masturbated and I didn't say anything.”

Rodgers: “I could hear the phone ringing in the background. I knew he wasn't going to talk to me very long. He wanted to kind of bare his soul … that’s the impression I got. He wanted to give me a heads up on stuff. And I said, Jim, using city equipment, that's really serious, and he said, I know, I know.”

Rodgers: “I told him your own private life is your private life: I just have a hard time with you using city computers. And he goes, yeah I know.”

Dorn Steele: “So there's no doubt in your mind that he said he was not only using a city computer online, but also he masturbated with this guy?”

Rodgers: “Right.”

Dorn Steele: “Online from City Hall?”

Rodgers: “Yep.”

Dorn Steele: “What was your reaction to that?”

Rodgers: “I told him my friends are my friends unconditionally. And he said, ‘I've got to go.’ I could hear the phones in the background. And so that's how we left it.”

Dorn Steele: “He didn't say don't tell anybody, this is confidential? He was making a confession to you?”

Rodgers: “Yes. I'll swear on the Bible, I'll take a lie detector test.”

The press release issued Sunday quotes Rodgers as saying, “We had a brief, two-minute conversation. Based on that conversation, I concluded that he had masturbated in his office, but that apparently was not what he meant.”

When asked about that statement, Rodgers said that West is saying that is not what he meant, but she still believes he told her he had masturbated in his office.

Also Sunday, Rodgers said she was told by City Attorney Mike Connelly that West's City Hall computers were seized on Thursday and the contents “frozen” to preserve them for an investigation.

Rodgers said West told her he has no intention of resigning, but that he will stop making public appearances for one year, including an appearance at a mayor's prayer breakfast later this month.