Staff preparing West’s records for panel probe

In the three weeks since abuse of power allegations against Mayor Jim West became public, Spokane City Attorney Mike Connelly has had as many as three attorneys and an office assistant preparing records for an independent investigation into the mayor’s use of his office.

The attorneys have been reviewing material captured from West’s computer earlier this month.

Connelly has also assembled a panel of two college professors and two retired jurists to look into allegations that West misused his office by seeking dates from young men.

A fifth member for the panel was being sought last week.

The investigators all come from distinguished backgrounds with deep roots in the community.

Their work will revolve around West’s use of computers to solicit dates from young men. One man was actually a forensic computer expert hired by The Spokesman-Review to confirm allegations that West offered the trappings of his office to men he met on the Web site Gay.com.

The expert posed as a 17-year-old high school student about to turn 18. West offered the man gifts, favors and an internship at City Hall, according to a newspaper investigation published starting on May 5.

The newspaper investigation also included allegations that West sexually molested two boys in the late 1970s and early 1980s when he was a deputy sheriff and Boy Scout leader. West has denied the allegations.

After the stories were published in The Spokesman-Review, officials working for West at City Hall made copies of his computer records, seized his computer hard drive and preserved backup copies held on the main city computer.

Connelly assigned staff to determine what, if any, of West’s computer communications contained information that is confidential, either because it involves city legal matters or West’s right to privacy. Also, city lawyers are preparing documents for release to the public under the state’s Open Records Act.

“We are putting in the time and hours to do it right,” Connelly said last week. “We have to be careful we don’t violate any laws or intrude on anybody’s rights protected by the Constitution or state laws.”

Once the records are prepared, the investigative panel will be asked to study them to determine if West violated any city policies or laws. Connelly has said the investigators may have to enter confidentiality agreements to examine documents involving matters of privacy or city litigation.

At the same time, the FBI is conducting a preliminary investigation into any potential violations of law.

Council President Dennis Hession said he is confident that the panel members will approach the investigation with a sense of independence and good ethical conduct. He described the members appointed so far as “certainly above reproach.” Hession also added that Connelly is seeking a woman for the fifth member.

Here are brief biographies of the four panelists named so far by Connelly, a Democrat:

• J. Michael Stebbins, director of the Gonzaga University Institute of Ethics.

Stebbins joined Gonzaga as director of the institute in 2000 but had worked as a visiting assistant professor in religious studies at Gonzaga from 1992 to 1994.

Stebbins holds a 1991 doctoral degree in systematic theology and Christian ethics from Boston College and Andover Newton Theological School. Before joining Gonzaga, he worked as a senior fellow at Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

Stebbins was one of five members of the Mayor’s Oversight Committee that conducted an independent review of a tank failure last year at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

• Harold “Pete” Clarke, retired Spokane County Superior Court judge.

Like Stebbins, Clarke served on the wastewater oversight committee. The committee’s report leveled criticism at management and staff for not cooperating and communicating when it came to plant operations and safety.

Clarke retired from the county bench in 1995 after serving for 21 years. At the time, he was Eastern Washington’s senior jurist, having first been elevated to the bench in 1974 by then-Gov. Dan Evans, a Republican.

Clarke was born in Nebraska and earned an undergraduate degree in political science from Washington State University in 1950. He graduated from Gonzaga Law School in 1957. He also served as a colonel and judge advocate general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.

• Philip Thompson, retired judge on Washington’s Court of Appeals.

Thompson retired from the bench in 1997 after 25 years as a jurist. A 1962 graduate of Gonzaga University, he returned to GU after leaving the bench and worked as the university’s corporate counsel for three years until 2000.

During his career, Thompson served as a District Court judge from 1972 to 1978 before moving up to Superior Court. He was initially appointed to the Court of Appeals in 1983 by then-Gov. John Spellman, a Republican.

• Tom Trulove, professor of economics at Eastern Washington University.

Trulove has a long resume of experience in government. He served as mayor of Cheney from 1978 to 1985 and left the mayor’s post to accept an appointment to the Northwest Power Planning Council, where he served until 1994.

Raised in Klamath Falls, Ore., Trulove holds a doctorate from the University of Oregon. He joined the faculty at EWU in 1969. During his service as Cheney mayor, Trulove served as chairman of the Washington State Public Works Advisory Board, co-chairman of the Washington State Road Jurisdiction Commission and was a member of the Washington State Board of Health and Washington Advisory Commission on Interagency Relations.