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12/07/2005: "Its over Jim..."

Spokane has voted its mayor out of office.

The local paper did a hatchet job on West.

"Are Steven Smith and The Spokesman-Review the ultimate authority in Spokane or is it the people? The choice is ours."

For his part, Smith is surprised the scandal has burned so long. "There are days I feel Mayor West is just making it too easy and that we are in a position of having to continue to write these stories," Smith said. "Now I think that's his responsibility, not ours."

Smith says West could have saved himself further scrutiny by resigning.

"But nevertheless," Smith said, "you've got to ask yourself periodically, how do I feel about this? And there are days I don't feel really great about it. Proud of our journalism. But I just feel like this guy is standing up there and allowing us to whack away at him.

"And we're grinding him into dust."

That last sentence is said without boast. It's Smith's assessment of where the story has gone.

This type of thing is apparently quite popular in Spokane

The Cajun Prince, Edwin Edwards, a four-term govenor of Louisiana, who also served in the state Senate and U.S. Congress, and as a justice on the Louisiana Supreme Court, but was jailed in 2002 on corruption charges, once said, "The only way I can lose this election is if I'm caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy."

So Betsy Cowles got Jim West run out of office, and just as it happened, presto... no back taxes on RPS.

Life goes on as usual in Spokane. The Cowles dynasty continues unhindered, using their wealth and media control to smite all who oppose them.

Spokane's citizens have always prized their home as the town where nothing ever happens. But if Spokane is to progress, it is time to let that hysterical nostalgia go. This pigeonholed concept of yesteryear is decaying like the yards lining Maple and Ash.

Spokane is inferior in many ways to nearby cities and towns much smaller, includingBoise, ID. Boise is everything Spokane hopes to be. Boise gets a lot of tech while Spokane technology companies all die of crib death. Tech in Spokane can't flourish because the people who work in tech are, by and large young adults and families who chose where they live based on lifestyle and culture. Boise has it, Spokane does not. Boise welcomes outsiders, Spokane does not.

Spokane, when you can't match the hipness and success of southern Idaho, it's time to rethink your strategy.

Spokane is suffering a long, slow death due to its inwardly focused, frightened-of-the-world isolationism.

Meanwhile, Betsy Cowles continues to milk Spokane's citizens with every passing year.