Ore. to investigate gay mayor’s affair with teen

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: MSNBC

PORTLAND, Ore. - Four Portland newspapers and the city police union are calling on the mayor to resign, after he admitted he lied by denying he had a sexual relationship with a teenage boy.

Mayor Sam Adams admitted this week that he lied to cover up his relationship with a teenage legislative intern because a potential mayoral candidate had spread rumors that Adams had sex with a minor.

Adams, 45, said the teen was 17 when they met in 2005, and that the relationship did not turn sexual until the boy turned 18. He said he lied because he was afraid voters wouldn’t believe that his young lover had turned 18 before they started having sex.

Adams became mayor on New Year’s Day, making Portland the largest U.S. city with an openly gay mayor.

As newspapers called for him to step down, Oregon Attorney General John Kroger agreed to investigate whether a crime was committed.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28796802/

---

I wonder if the mayor was straight, and the teenage in question was a woman, if the headline would have been "Ore. to investigate straight mayor’s affair with teen."

[scytherius]

1. The problem is the lying. At least he was 18

However, and I guess it would make it tough to get votes, be how you are and let the chips fall where they may.

[fed_up_mother]

16. Sex with an intern? What an IDIOT.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

2. Another Portlander pissed at Sam

I really could give a flying frak which flavor the guy wants to screw, but the fact that he lied, cajoled others into supporting his lie (conspiracy to obstruct justice?), and then only came clean when he was alerted to the fact that a local newsweekly was about to blow the lid off, makes this inexcusable. As sad as I am to say it, Sam Adams, who could have been the best Portland mayor since Bud Clark, has got to go. There is no way that he can continue to effectively run the city with this hanging over his head.

But the people who should be most angry are Adams' fellow gays. Adams has perpetuated the stereotype of the promiscuous homosexual.

[depakid]

14. Another wrrinkle is that he hired a reporter from the Portland Mercury (a weekly alternative paper)

to be his advisor on sustainability and urban planning.

(this despite the fact- which she ackowledges, that Portland State University hosts one of the top graduate schools in the nation in urban planning- and has countless world renowned profesionals in the community to choose from).

As Willamette Week noted:

On Dec. 22, 2008... Adams hired Portland Mercury City Hall reporter Amy Ruiz to be his adviser on sustainability and strategic planning.

Ruiz, 28, acknowledged in a Jan. 15 interview that she has no experience in sustainability, planning or government. “This town has a million and a half urban planners, and I’m not one of them,” she says. Ruiz’s new salary—$55,000—is substantially more than she made at The Mercury.

Mayors and city commissioners frequently hire people whose enthusiasm exceeds their experience. But it was what Ruiz had done as a reporter—or more specifically, what she had not done—that brought into question Adams’ decision to hire her.

In 2007, Ruiz was one of two Mercury reporters who covered the Breedlove story. The other was Scott Moore.

Long after the original story died, Moore and Ruiz continued to pursue the premise that Adams and Breedlove had lied. They did so after The Mercury had originally been Adams’ strongest supporter, going so far as to publish a story Sept. 20, 2007, called “The Scandal That Wasn’t There.”

http://wweek.com/editorial/3511/12113/

Whether or not this was an attempt to keep her from pursuing the story, it creates the appearance of impropriety -and in any case would have left her under a cloud at city hall.

As if so often the case- the cover-up is worse than the scandal.

[Bluenorthwest]

3. He never should have lied,

Let's remember that when Jerry Seinfeld was in his late thirties, he started dating a seventeen year old high school student Shoshanna Lonstein. This was while his show was top of the charts. High School. 17 is not legal age of consent in CA. They 'dated' until she gratuated college, Jerry was in his 40's. World's most famous comic, dating a high school girl, and no one said a thing. Not a word was said.
So Sam should have stood his ground. And been honest about it. The lying is unacceptable, but so is the double standard he faces in the media. Both things are true at the same time.

[rfranklin]

11. Well, at least they were the same faith....

I think that makes it okay.

[gratuitous]

4. Makes me wanna holler

I think Adams is a very capable politician and could be a fine mayor; it's the job he's trained for for years. Then he steps on his johnson like this. I don't think Portland would have been horribly scandalized by the admission of an affair with young Mr. Breedlove. Adams' sexuality has been public knowledge (as opposed to an open secret) for years. But to lie about it, call the allegations disgusting, and tell Breedlove to lie for him too, is over the line. That's the bad news.

The good news is that Oregon law doesn’t allow for a recall petition to be circulated until an elected official has been in office for six months. If Adams resigns now, his career is over, and Oregon will have lost a capable person to help run things. If Adams toughs it out (and he’s done okay in the last couple of days), and rebuilds his credibility and trust between now and July, he might just avoid a recall. But he’s going to have to work his tail off to do it, because the vultures are circling. My office is right next door to City Hall, and the news vans are making it look like a KOA Campground.

[Divine Discontent]

5. of course the story title wouldn't say that - anything to degrade gays.

I am shocked when I see a story involving gays and it doesn't state their sexuality in the headline. It shouldn't have to be that way, but this proves the point - they want to degrade us to the public. What the man did was possibly wrong, but no one will ever know if he was 17 or 18, as the young man says he was 18, so who really cares - the only thing that matters is his lying about the affair with someone he was 'mentoring'. For that, the voters should repudiate him, or he should step down. I don't think anyone should be wasting money investigating it.

[Corey_Baker08]

6. Sam Adams? Isn't That a brand of Beer?

[zehnkatzen]

8. These days, a lot of Portlanders are wishing that that's all it was. n/t

[zehnkatzen]

7. It already was, and they did.

I wonder if the mayor was straight, and the teenage in question was a woman, if the headline would have been "Ore. to investigate straight mayor’s affair with teen."

It already happened, and they kind of did. Neil Goldschmidt. Though it happened more than ten years after the fact and Neil had been done with being Governor for some time.

There's a big difference anyway between this and any situation that seems similar. One big difference is, that even though Beau Breedlove was on the cusp of the age of consent, it was apparently (barring the release of any subsequent infos) consensual.

The headline notwithstanding, the anger most Portlanders feel, refreshingly, have nothing to do with Sam's sexual orientation. The anger has to do with being played for fools by Sam. When this happened back in 07, and Sam played the victim and slimed Bob Ball in return, a lot of us defended him; he had years of goodwill and he spent that capital with a vengeance.

I, for one, still like Sam. He had great ideas and great plans, and was a real rags-to-riches (so to speak) success story. But you can't simply repair shattered trust like that with an apology, no matter how sincere.

[dballance]

9. Pissed Off Gay Portlander

Well, I think Adams should resign. I didn't vote for him - I didn't think he was the best candidate. His mismanagement of the OHSU Tram costs still tick me off. Now, he's gone and embarrassed himself and Portland. Frankly, this issue has nothing to do with his sexual orientation.

What this says is that he is just another slimy politician who will lie to keep his career alive and avoid the hard things in life - like responsibility for his actions. What's he going to lie about next to keep his position as Mayor?

Resign you lying jerk - and don't let the door hit you on the way out.

[kenny blankenship]

15. You let us know when you can prove that you've located a pol who will not lie to keep his career

You know why they do it? Because they're just like you.

[uppityperson]

10. I don't think lying about sex between 2 consenting adults is a crime.

I also don't think sex between 2 consenting adults is anyone's business except their own.

[Justitia]

13. Totally agree. No one has any obligation to spill details of their consensual sex life.

They don't owe anybody the "truth" about any of it.

[Ian David]

12. If the boy were a woman, this would be a Disney movie. n/t

[Arugula Latte]

17. He's my mayor and I wish he'd stay.

I know all the arguments, and I know the lying is the worst of it, but ... I just like the guy. I think he will/would have been a great mayor. I don't care about his love life.

[Tinksrival]

18. This makes me so sad.

teenage legislative intern

Sam Adams was almost thirty years older than this teen. As an abuse victim that was hounded by my step father this does not sit well with me.
Responsible adults in authoritative positions should not act out on these impulses. It's wrong and very bad character. Add the lying and you will be judged a douche bag.