"...truly a shame what happened to West." You've got to be kidding me! He did this to himself. We won't even go into his close personal relationship with members of a child molesting ring in Spokane during the 70's and 80's that included Catholic clergy, Boy Scout leaders and policemen. He lived with one of the offenders, but of course knew nothing of the vile horrors that the young boys(several who later committed suicide) had to endure. The guy is a POS who's got a special place waiting for him where the temp. is always over 750 degrees. The Spokesman-Review newspaper has done an outstanding job on investigating this pervert's history.
Apparently I have people misreading what I wrote. I would call anyone spectacularly imploding by their own hand after a promising career a "shame." The fact that a lot of the info you cite proves that he should never HAVE been in public office to begin with. At no point did I ever infer the man was a victim of anyone other than his own character and psychological deficiencies.