The articles can be found
here in the Spokane Spokesman-Review.
As you may recall, a gay marriage bill recently failed in WA by 1 vote, following Microsoft's pull of support from gay rights. A major political player in the state is Jim West, the mayor of Spokane.
One article starts:
For a quarter century, the man who is now Spokane's mayor has used positions of public trust – as a sheriff's deputy, Boy Scout leader and powerful politician – to develop sexual relationships with boys and young men.
The stories found in the Spokesman-Review detail
-2 boys' stories of molestation by West back in the 1970's when he was a scout leader and they were boy scouts
-A sting operation showing him offering an "18-yr-old" an internship as an excuse to meet up in a gay chat room
-The mayor's response to the allegations (he's not gay - he just has relationships with men... isn't that a Roy Cohn line from Angels in America?)
-and more
Whether a public official is gay or not has no reflection on their ability to serve their constituents (we're all liberals here so we're on the same page on that one) BUT - an official fighting tooth and nail to keep a secret life secret (be it a gay secret life or something else) is not a good thing. Hypocrisy, also bad.
Also, there are not criminal investigations because the statute of limitations has run out, but molestation charges are also a big deal.
From the same article as above:
On one recent occasion, West offered a man he believed to be an 18-year-old – whom he met online at Gay.com – gifts, favors and a City Hall internship, Internet dialogues retained by the newspaper reveal. The 18-year-old was actually a forensic computer expert working for the newspaper.
That article details the 2 boys experiences with West as boys when they were 8-11 years old.
Another article says:
Over two decades, West rose to power in the Washington Legislature with a carefully cultivated image as a fiscally conservative Republican opposed to gay rights, abortion rights and teenage sex.
This article discusses West in his public life.