What's Up With That? #20: Wild, wild West

Let's say you're the 53-year-old mayor of Spokane, Washington. Now let's say you're picking up 18-year-old guys in gay chat rooms on the Internet.

But I repeat myself.

Here's what I can't figure out. James West has for years been one of the most outspokenly conservative politicians on the West Coast when it comes to sexual issues. In 1986, he authored failed legislation that would have prohibited gays from working in schools and day-care centers. In 1990, he proposed a bill that would have made all sexual contact between teenagers a misdemeanor punishable with jail time. He has ardently opposed homosexual rights for more than two decades in public office.

And he's gay? With a taste for teenaged males?

That's like a black man joining a Klan rally.

Or becoming Ward Connerly.