When a politician is accused of raping boys and offering young men on the Internet jobs at City Hall, it's best to wait for the smoke to clear before weighing in.

But the smoke around Spokane Mayor Jim West just won't lift. Instead, new allegations are kicking up more every day.

West insists he's innocent, city leaders say he has to go, and somehow, the city continues to rise and rest every day while the headlines fall like meteors.

This week, West again refused to resign, again denied two men's allegations that he molested them when they were boys and he was a Scout leader and deputy sheriff.

On Tuesday, six of the seven members of the City Council said that next week they would call for West to quit.

Two new allegations: one that West pulled down boys' pants at a Boy Scouts camp during the late 1970s; and that, as a deputy, he fondled a teenager during a 1977 marijuana search.

Politicians have jumped in, too: State Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, told The Spokesman-Review that in 1990, West spotted her 18-year-old son in the Senate chamber and said, "I want to do to your son what no mother would want to know."

And Spokane City Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers said West recently told her that he masturbated at his desk while visiting a gay Web site.

West fights all of it.

It could be innocence. It could be denial. But it's clear West isn't giving up what he has called his "dream job" no matter who says what.

Since returning to City Hall last Thursday from a 10-day vacation, he has carried on as always, holding daily meetings with his Cabinet.

On Friday, he attended a Leadership Prayer Breakfast and a meeting of the Northwest Neighborhoods Council.

Next week, he heads to Tampa, Fla., for the U.S. Commerce Department's "Strengthening America's Communities" advisory committee.

"He's certainly keeping a normal schedule inside the building," said city spokeswoman Marlene Feist. "And he's still going to events."

And yet, the city that West so loves wants him gone.

In calling for West's resignation, Council President Dennis Hession told reporters the city "is now at a point where the mayor's continued presence is an impediment to the normal progress of the city."

The Chamber of Commerce and visitors' bureau see West "as a hindrance to economic development and convention business."

We stand on the belief that people are innocent until proven guilty.

Still, neither I nor several of my colleagues — political junkies, all — could think of a politician who walked away clean from allegations that were anything but.

If West loves his city so much, perhaps the best thing to do is not quit, but take a leave, and tend full time to defending his name.

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

Bring in Efrem Zimbalist Jr.