Saturday, November 21, 2009

A SPOKESMAN-REVIEW INVESTIGATIVE REPORT

West file reveals link to profile on Gay.com

Internet document with Fresno man's name created when mayor in California for meeting

By Bill Morlin and Christopher Rodkey / Staff writers

October 14, 2005

© The Spokesman-Review 2005

Spokane Mayor Jim West used his city computer to view Internet information about a young gay man in Fresno, Calif., while he was there on a government-paid trip for a presidential commission, public records released Thursday suggest.

A file on West's computer, identically matching the unique screen name of a young man whose profile is posted at Gay.com, was included among uncontested material released Thursday with the approval of West and his attorneys.

West and his legal team did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

The mayor is fighting the release of other "highly offensive" information, including "personal social contacts" on the mayor's computer.

Those files include hundreds of other pictures and message exchanges recorded on his city-owned computer while he visited gay Web sites.

Superior Court Judge Richard Miller of Adams County, who heard legal arguments on Wednesday in Ritzville, is expected to rule later this month on whether the personal social contact files should be made public.

Contradicting earlier statements, West last week admitted that he used his city computer to visit gay Web sites.

Most of the material on the uncontested CD released Thursday is routine – mayoral letters and speeches, birthday greetings, promotional and motivational documents, lists of contacts and digital photos taken during different trips.

But buried in the material is a shortcut to an Internet document with a file name that is identical to the screen name of a man who voluntarily posted his profile on Gay.com, using a variation of "a cool dude."

The man's profile on Gay.com, examined by The Spokesman-Review, shows he lives in Fresno.

The young man's real name isn't listed on the Web site, but "cool dude" described himself as a 23-year-old who is interested in "friendship, love, relationships and conversation."

The shortcut to "cool dude" was last modified at 12:18 a.m. April 15, 2005, a day when city travel records show West was in Fresno as a member of the Strengthening America's Communities Advisory Commission.

The U.S. Department of Commerce paid for commission members' expenses under funding approved by Congress.

The mayor's computer was seized by the city 20 days after he returned from the California trip.

On May 5, The Spokesman-Review published a series of stories on West, including details of how he offered City Hall jobs and appointments to young men he solicited for sex.

The CD of uncontested material includes a folder of shortcuts to recently used documents and Internet sites.

There is also a picture of a young man on the computer labeled "Chris from Boston."

The accompanying computer description gives no hint how or why the picture ended up on West's computer.

His travel records show he was in Philadelphia earlier this year, but there's no recorded visit to Boston.