Last night's Frontline piece on the late Spokane Mayor Jim West superbly captured the man's downfall.

The piece examines in detail how the Spokesman-Review pursued its controversial stories on West, and includes interviews with investigative reporter Bill Morlin and editor Steve Smith.

In case anyone forgot, the paper employed a consultant to pose on a gay web site and draw out West -- a former Republican state legislator who had co-sponsored and voted for legislation opposing gay rights -- into conversations about sex and a possible (unpaid) City Hall internship. The paper then confronted West with his secret life -- and when Frontline replays the actual taped interview of that moment, you can sense the mayor's world collapsing before his eyes.

The Spokesman-Review published a story that not only detailed West's secret life as a closeted gay man trolling the Internet, but also brought up allegations by men who claimed West had abused them in the 1970s, when West was a Boy Scout leader and sheriff's deputy. That was the beginning of the end for West, who denied the allegations but was drummed out of office by a recall campaign. He died of cancer in July.

The Spokesman-Review's controversial tactics get examined in the Frontline piece. There seems to be some painful hair-splitting when Morlin explains how he couldn't have gone online and posed as someone else, because it would have violated the paper's code of ethics. But, he notes, the code of ethics didn't prohibit the paper hiring a consultant to entrap the mayor. The paper's editors also appear gloating and making jokes about possible headlines on the night West lost his recall election.

More than anything, Frontline captured the tragic loneliness of West, who never seemed to come to grips with himself. After what he termed his "brutal outing," West started attending a local church that condemns homosexuality as a sin.

I'm curious what others thought of the Frontline segment. In particular, did it change your view of the Spokesman-Review's tactics? Should the paper's initial story have tried to tie allegations of decades-old sex abuse with the contemporary Internet trolling by the mayor? Did the paper prove its worst allegations? Did West simply get what he deserved?

At the Frontline web site, you can watch the whole program, and see transcripts of interviews with reporters who covered the story (including David Postman), community leaders, some of West's accusers and members of Spokane's gay community.

UPDATE: Spokesman-Review editor Steve Smith has written a critical response to the Frontline piece here.