Talk:James E. West (politician)

Unbalanced

While the scandal is likely to be the most interesting aspect of this biography it does seem to be the sole focus. He served for 22 years before being a mayor, had a life before that and certainly did other things as the mayor. We need to build up the other aspects to tell the whole story rather than just the scandal. -- Banjeboi 23:03, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

Since the previous unbalanced charges were raised the article has been re-written. It is far more balanced now.

Media Bias

I live in Washington state and I remember a news story about West from the 90's in which he left a threatening phone message on the answering machine of a Democratic state legislator. West did make a number of political enemies in the Democratic party during his political career. After watching the PBS show it became clear to me that the newspaper editor was a political opponent of West for years before West became mayor of Spokane. Still, it is very upsetting to see the viciousness and political bias on the part of the newspaper that prompted the supposedly "objective" editor to go after West with a sting operation. West wasn't very smart or discreet in his sexual behavior, but I also have no doubt that he framed by the news media. Funny, isn't it the liberals who constantly tell us that there is nothing wrong with being gay? I guess they will never apply the same rule to gay Republicans. It sure is interesting to see how differently the media covered the gay sex scandals regarding Portland, Oregon mayor Sam Adams in 2009. Adams is a Democrat. As far as I can tell West never lied about his gay sexual relationships the way Adams did. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.160.96.193 (talk) 08:58, 28 January 2010 (UTC)