West appointee was accused of rape

Spokane Mayor Jim West’s newest appointment to the city Human Rights Commission was found responsible 15 years ago of violating the civil rights of two Laotian Hmong women who accused him of rape.

A $225,000 civil judgment was returned in December 1989 against Vang Xiong X. Toyed, who was then a job counselor with the state Employment Security Department.

He did not face criminal charges and remains employed as a state employment specialist.

In its finding in December 1989, a U.S. District Court jury determined that Vang Xiong, a member of Spokane’s large Hmong community, raped and violated the civil rights of two Hmong women.

One of the women claimed she was raped 16 times by Vang Xiong between 1984 and 1986. The other claimed she was raped once by him in 1983, when she went to him for a job. They were awarded a combined total of $225,000 for the civil rights violations.

According to trial testimony, the women didn’t report the rapes to police because they worried about cultural shame within the Hmong community and feared their families would be killed.

Vang Xiong testified the women consented to sexual relations with him during extramarital affairs he had after immigrating to the United States in 1976. He appealed the jury’s verdict, but the appeal was rejected.

In an interview Wednesday, Vang Xiong said he applied for the human rights post on March 1 after being encouraged by others he was unwilling to identify.

He has attended only one of two Human Rights Commission meetings that have occurred since his appointment.

In the interview, he said his past is being raised by people in the Hmong community who are jealous of his accomplishments.

“I believe I could bring a helpful, diverse dimension to the commission,” Vang Xiong said.

“I do not believe the jury’s verdict still, today, because the truth didn’t support it, the evidence did not support it,” he said. His wife was “hurt and disappointed” by the trial revelations, but remains married to him.

He was hired in 1982 by the state Employment Security Department where he continues as a work source specialist.

He applied to the mayor’s office on March 1 for appointment to the city’s Human Rights Commission.

After a review by West’s aide, Brian Murray, Vang Xiong’s nomination was forwarded by the mayor’s office to the City Council for unanimous confirmation on March 29.

The mayor, reached for comment on Wednesday evening, said he was unaware of the civil rights judgment rendered against the man he just appointed to the Human Rights Commission.

“That’s unfortunate,” West said when told the appointee’s background.

“This wasn’t brought to my attention,” West said. “We don’t do background checks. Obviously, if I would have known this, I wouldn’t have made the appointment.”

Vang Xiong “is not the kind of person we want on the commission, but this is the first I’ve heard about this,” West said.

West said he wasn’t prepared to say what steps he will take, or whether he will ask Vang Xiong to resign.

The mayor said he will conduct an internal investigation to see how the nomination reached his desk without the background information.

City Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers said she and other council members weren’t provided any background on the nominee.

“This is definite grounds to rescind that appointment,” Rodgers said Wednesday. “I think the public outrage over this appointment should result in his removal.”

If the mayor doesn’t initiate a recall of his nominee, Rodgers said she will start the process. “Oh, my gosh. This is pretty blatant.”

Rodgers said the “questionable appointment” also raises questions about the background process the mayor’s office is using to unilaterally screen appointments to various city boards and agencies.

Several current and past members of the Human Rights Commission were astonished to learn about Vang Xiong’s background.

“How is (the mayor) making his choices? What are his criteria?” asked Mike Kress, who has served on the commission for seven months. “Something like this gives people who don’t believe there’s any reason for a human rights commission to exist ammunition to target the commission even further.”

City law says the mayor is in charge of appointing the 15 human rights commissioners and the City Council approves their three-year appointments. In the past, however, mayors sought the opinion of the commission, which interviewed and screened applicants before making recommendations.

West hasn’t done that, according to commission members.

It’s bad enough when the mayor “handpicks his own people,” said Kress. It’s worse when he doesn’t bother to look into their backgrounds, he said.

Until West took over, applicants underwent a “stringent” process by a screening committee of commission members, said Shawn Nikfar, one of six members whose appointments ended this month.

When Nikfar applied for the position 18 months ago, he was interviewed for at least two hours. When he was on the board, he and others worked hard to make sure that appointees were well-qualified people of integrity who had a passion for diversity and human rights.

“The Human Rights Commission has always taken pride in its commissioners because of their high standards of character and morality and also their community involvement,” Nikfar said. He said he’s “disappointed” the previous application process has been abandoned and centralized in the mayor’s office.

Dr. Norm Charney, another commissioner, was surprised to learn about Xiong’s past, but he wanted to reserve judgment. “I want to give Mayor West the benefit of the doubt,” he said. “I’m sure if the mayor knew that about him, he wouldn’t have appointed him.”

Three board members, whose terms expired at the end of March, learned last month that the mayor decided not to renew their appointments. According to Brad Read, who had served as chairman, the mayor also said he likely will not consider reappointing any members until new people have served on the board.

Read and others said they lost their spots on the commission because the mayor doesn’t agree with their liberal opinions. In the past, the human rights commission has espoused a number of issues including the passage of a living-wage ordinance, opposing the USA Patriot Act and the invasion of Iraq, and getting domestic-partner benefits for city employees.

Although Read had served on the commission since 1999, Kandys Dygert had served for only one year and two months. Jim Green had been a member for only three months.

“My politics are different from the current mayor’s, there’s no doubt about that,” said Green, a part-time shelter worker for Crosswalk and a stand-up comedian who is active in the local Green Party. “But I thought we could work together anyway.”

Only three non-West appointees remain on the board.

“We had a diversity on the board that sometimes wasn’t apparent to the naked eye,” said Heidi Silver, whose term expired this month.”