At-work porn surfing an especially bad choice for mayor

Ramon Padilla noted yesterday that viewing porn at work is usually considered cause for immediate dismissal. When the surfer is the boss, though, it's a particularly messy situation. In Spokane, Wash., the mayor is going to court to stop release of the dirty photos and chat transcripts sitting on his official computer. KIRO-TV reports:

Spokane Mayor Jim West's city-owned computer contains 1,800 files, at least half of them photos, that he doesn't want the public to see, according to new court filings.

"From what I've been told by a city attorney, the mayor's computer contains pornographic pictures and probably very sexually descriptive correspondence with people he met on chat lines with his City Hall computer," City Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers told The Spokesman-Review for a Saturday report.

West declined to comment Friday on his decision to challenge release of the files. The files apparently include photos of young men the mayor met on gay Web sites using his city-owned computer, according to documents produced by City Hall. His files of "personal social contacts" also apparently include message exchanges with young men.