Former Spokane Mayor Jim West dies

Only cancer could end Jim West's dream of a renewed political career.

The former Spokane mayor died early Saturday in Seattle of complications from surgery. He was 55. He already had lost his office by recall and his reputation by allegations of sexual misconduct.

But in his final days, Mr. West, once one of the state's most powerful Republicans, was said to have been thinking about a political comeback.

"I wish he could have lived long enough for his reputation to be restored to the place of honor that he deserved," said Mr. West's ex-wife, Ginger Marshall. They remained close after their brief marriage, and Marshall was with Mr. West when he died at the University of Washington Medical Center.

"He was a man of the people," Marshall said. "He never saw himself above them or better than them. He worked for them."

Mr. West was diagnosed in 2003 with colon cancer, which spread to his liver. He underwent repeated surgeries and chemotherapy treatments.

Mr. West "was Spokane's first mayor who was a real politician," said Spokane novelist Jess Walter, a former reporter for The Spokesman-Review. "This was a guy who knew how to play politics."

A statement released by the hospital said Mr. West's family and pastor were with him when he died. He is survived by his father, a brother and a sister.

"As a family, we wish to thank the caregivers at University of Washington Medical Center, and the many friends of Jim for their support and prayers," the family said in their statement.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Mr. West began public life as a sheriff's deputy who ran for election against his boss, the county sheriff. Mr. West lost, but went on to win a seat on the City Council, in the state House and then in the state Senate, where he was Ways and Means chairman and majority leader.

He wanted to be lieutenant governor but lost in the crowded 1996 primary.

In the Legislature, Mr. West was a pro-business, anti-tax Republican and an ally of social conservatives. He opposed gay-rights legislation, which led some to say he was a hypocrite when he later acknowledged having relationships with men.

He helped create the state Department of Health, and his legislative accomplishments included laws requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets and schools to teach abstinence as part of sex education, according to The Spokesman-Review.

But he said being Spokane mayor was his "dream job." He lost once, but won in 2003.

By then he had been diagnosed with cancer. The Spokesman-Review soon was reporting allegations that Mr. West had used his city computer to cruise online for young men, offering City Hall positions and gifts in exchange for sex.

The paper had set up a sting with a consultant hired to play the role of a young Spokane man, to see if Mr. West would make sexual advances. Mr. West conceded he had showed bad judgment in pursuing young men. But he denied legal wrongdoing.

He also strenuously denied published allegations that he had abused two boys more than 20 years earlier as a sheriff's deputy and Boy Scout leader.

He was recalled in a December election.

Mr. West told The Seattle Times late last year that he had sworn off online cruising and sexual relationships of any sort.

Walter said Mr. West was more comfortable with "his public self than private self. This was a guy who wished he didn't have a personal life. It'd be so much easier for him if he didn't have these urges."

"He was moving on"

William Etter, a Spokane attorney who represented Mr. West in his battles against The Spokesman-Review and the recall effort, said Mr. West felt he was "criminalized" unfairly.

Mr. West threatened to sue the newspaper for invasion of privacy. But Etter said Mr. West decided against that because it would be too draining, personally and financially.

Etter said Mr. West didn't harbor much bitterness. "He was moving on." After leaving office, Mr. West got a job selling ads for a Spokane magazine. There were rumors he wanted to run for office again.

"I think he felt if he could get healthy again, he would be back in the political arena somehow," Etter said. "That was his life. He was an Olympic athlete of politics.  He wanted to try to put his life back together, and I think he was on his way to doing it."

Scandal drove Mr. West from public office, but he wasn't hiding out in his final days. Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said she saw Mr. West a few months ago at a community event.

"He seemed to want to see people and be seen and talk about what was going on in Spokane," she said.

Mr. West's career, Brown said, followed a classic and tragic arc. "He was on the verge of realizing a lifelong dream as mayor of Spokane and self-destructed," she said. "In a way, he was almost Nixonian to Spokane."

Dino Rossi, the Republican nominee for governor in 2004, said he woke his family Saturday to say the rosary after hearing of Mr. West's death.

Rossi was one of Mr. West's closest friends in the Senate. And when Mr. West was first battling his cancer, he stayed at Rossi's home in Sammamish.

But the two had spoken only once since Mr. West's downfall.

Rossi said he returned a call to Mr. West a few months after the recall election. He said Mr. West seemed upbeat and not angry — "not like you might think someone would be in that situation."

"It seemed like he had come to the conclusion of things, at peace," Rossi said. "Jim gets fairly focused on things.  He was very focused on being very confident that he could beat the cancer."

Rossi said he was shocked and saddened when news of Mr. West's sex scandal broke last year. "I'm sure he wished he could do a lot of things over again," Rossi said.

"But I'm not interested in focusing on that," he added.

"The Jim West that I knew was the Jim West of Olympia," Rossi said. "The Jim West from Olympia was just a very gifted public servant."

Becky Bogard, a lobbyist and friend, talked to Mr. West before his recent surgery and saw him the night before he died.

"I think he was pretty much at peace with himself," Bogard said. She said she hopes people will move on, too.

"It's important for him to be remembered for the good things," she said.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.

David Postman: 360-236-8267 or dpostman@seattletimes.com

Ralph Thomas: 360-943-9882 or rthomas@seattletimes.com