Mayor Fights Release Of Files From His City-Owned Computer

Spokane Mayor Jim West's city-owned computer contains 1,800 files, at least half of them photos, that he doesn't want the public to see, according to new court filings.
"From what I've been told by a city attorney, the mayor's computer contains pornographic pictures and probably very sexually descriptive correspondence with people he met on chat lines with his City Hall computer," City Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers told The Spokesman-Review for a Saturday report.
West declined to comment Friday on his decision to challenge release of the files.
The files apparently include photos of young men the mayor met on gay Web sites using his city-owned computer, according to documents produced by City Hall. His files of "personal social contacts" also apparently include message exchanges with young men.
In September, Assistant City Attorney Milt Rowland said the city would release three CDs containing files copied from West's computer disc in response to a May public-records request from The Spokesman-Review.
West's attorneys went to court to prevent the city from releasing the CD files or a copy of his City Hall computer hard drive. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Wednesday before a visiting Adams County judge.
According to the city's written policies, data on city-owned computers "should be considered information available to the public." In many cases, improper use of government or business computers can lead to termination, the policies say.
West, who faces a recall election Dec. 6, has said he didn't use his City Hall computer to visit gay Web sites. That contention appears to be contradicted by an index of his computer files supplied by the city attorney's office.
The index "demonstrates that the Web site connections initiated from (West's) city computer include pictures and-or images," according to a legal brief by newspaper attorneys Duane Swinton and Tracy LeRoy. "Based on discussions before the court on Tuesday, the content of the records at issue involves images and-or pictures of young men from Internet sites such as Gay.com."
from KIRO TV