Sex scandal threatens to derail Adams

[PapaG]

(Portland Mayor had gay affair with teen)

One thing we seem to breed in Oregon are big political scandals, and the latest one is hitting Portland Mayor Sam Adams with gale force.

Adams admitted to The Oregonian and Willamette Week Monday that he lied back in September of 2007 when he denied rumors that he had had a sexual relationship with a teenager who had been a legislative intern. Adams, who is openly gay, said that while he first met the intern, Beau Breedlove, when he was 17, the two did not have sex until after Breedlove turned 18.

When rumors about the two first surfaced in September of 2007, Adams had not yet announced he was running for mayor but was clearly angling for the job. A potential mayoral rival to Adams, developer Bob Ball, had talked about the rumors with such figures as City Commissioner Randy Leonard and former Mayor Vera Katz, and Ball wound up being widely criticized after both Breedlove and Adams denied the rumor.

If Adams had admitted the relationship back in 2007, it likely would have seriously jeopardized his race for mayor. Reporters would have pushed hard to find out if the sexual relationship began before Breedlove was 18. Voters - and the power brokers who wield endorsements and campaign dollars - may have been bothered enough just by the age discrepancy to look elsewhere for a mayoral candidate.

At that point, it would have been easy to find an alternative to Adams. Adams undoubtedly knew that when he decided not to tell the truth and, as he acknowledged to Willamette Week, to ask Breedlove to lie for him as well.

Now, however, we're past the election and the city has invested itself in Adams' new mayoralty. There is a lot left to learn, including whether - as Willamette Week suggested in its reporting - Adams gave a job to a reporter for the Portland Mercury, Amy Ruiz, to keep her from continuing to chase reports that Adams had lied about his relationship with Breedlove.
It's way too early to know how this scandal will spin out - and whether voters will view it as a major blow to Adams' credibility or as a personal relationship that is none of their business.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/mapesonpolitics/2009/01/sex_scandal_threatens_to_derai.html

The real story is to find out when the affair started. Sam should have been upfront about this when it was first brought up and nobody would care. Now, he's a liar at best, and a criminal at worst.

 

[blue32]

remove him from office! the slut should be on Sex and the City, or some shit not the mayor!

 

[PapaG]

remove him from office! the slut should be on Sex and the City, or some shit not the mayor!

The issues now are the alleged job (using city money) to pay off Ruiz, or whether or not Breedlove was of age when the affair started.

I don't care if Sam Adams has a stable of adult boytoys. He's single, isn't he?

 

[blue32]

Calm down papa, i was just makin' a funny sarcastic remark. =)

break out the rainbows

 

[Norman Dale]

My issue isn't the affair, it's that he's lied about it to protect himself. What else has he lied about? What lies will he tell in the future?

 

[PapaG]

Calm down papa, i was just makin' a funny sarcastic remark. =)

break out the rainbows

I am calm.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

I think if he would have been up front that he perfers minors (or nearly so), the people would have embraced him for it. It's Portland, after all.

But for it to come out of the closet this way looks shmarmy.

Sam, you dog, you.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

could you imagine if this was a heterosexual scandal? I think it would be even worse....a early 40s male, a 17 year old teenage girl....then he "waited" until she turned 18..yeah right. shit would hit the fan.

 

[e_blazer]

could you imagine if this was a heterosexual scandal? I think it would be even worse....a early 40s male, a 17 year old teenage girl....then he "waited" until she turned 18..yeah right. shit would hit the fan.

Uhm, that was Neil Goldschmidt...except for the waiting part.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

exactly! but it happened much later.

 

[MARIS61]

Neil Goldschmidt should be rotting in jail.

 

[BalancedMan]

I think people need to get over it. Okay he lied. I get why that is a problem. But put yourself into his shoes. I probably would have lied had I been in his place. It's bad enough to hook up with an intern, but the taboo of it being 'gay' only makes a stronger impression on people's morally religious minds.

He lied about this personal issue...because it's somewhat embarrassing. At least he is coming clean now. Do you really think this ups the chance he'll take a bribe or embezzle money?

Everybody lies. Get over it.

 

[PapaG]

I think people need to get over it. Okay he lied. I get why that is a problem. But put yourself into his shoes. I probably would have lied had I been in his place. It's bad enough to hook up with an intern, but the taboo of it being 'gay' only makes a stronger impression on people's morally religious minds.

He lied about this personal issue...because it's somewhat embarrassing. At least he is coming clean now. Do you really think this ups the chance he'll take a bribe or embezzle money?

Everybody lies. Get over it.

The issues are whether or not Breedlove was a minor, and also the details for the job given to Ruiz.

 

[Denny Crane]

Oddly, the story doesn't mention his political party. The press protects it's own, right?

http://clarkcountypolitics.blogspot.com/2009/01/so-newly-elected-democrat-portland.html

So, newly-elected DEMOCRAT Portland Mayor Sam Adams had a sexual relationship with a teenager.

.
So, Sam Adams had a sexual relationship with a teenager.

That probably won’t make any difference to the idiots that voted for him. After all, as he takes his rightful place as the chief hedonist of Sodom-on-the-Willamette, that sort of thing is just par for his particular course.

Adams is a coward, both politically and morally. He’s not, finally, admitting to his perversion because it’s the right thing to do; no, that’s simply not possible. Instead, he’s fessin’ up because the Willamette Weekly has nailed him.

Had Mr. Adams been possessed of character, he would have told the truth before the election. But like most democrats striving to reach the bar lowered by Bill Clinton, that must depend on what your definition of “is,” is.

Mr. Adams must resign. Lying by omission, even if not technically illegal, provides him with no excuse.

He is not scum because he’s a promiscuous homosexual; that truly IS his business. What makes him scum is that he’s so PROUD of the fact that he nails other men, apparently even those just barely legal. And that, dear reader, is the kind of conduct that would INSTANTLY destroy a heterosexual politician, or even a politician with bisexual leanings… like Republican Congressman Mark Foley… and his democrat replacement who would, apparently, have sex with about anything that moved.

There will be few calls for his resignation. The double-standard is firmly in place, and homosexual politicians could, effectively, molest a Boy Scout troop and the MSM wouldn’t bat an eyelash… because, for their side, it’s ALWAYS “different.”

Adams should go, and do it right now. But he’s already proven he lacks the guts to dfo the right thing in the past… why would anyone believe he’d suddenly transform into a moral individual with something approaching character now?

And, in this article, note once again the absence from either the Columbian OR the Associated Press any mention of Adams' party affiliation... and ponder, again, if you will, the fact that had Adams been a Republican, that affiliation would have been in every other word in the article.

 

[Denny Crane]

My bad. Yahoo! mentions his party:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090120/ap_on_re_us/portland_s_mayor

Portland mayor admits past relationship with teen

<abbr title="2009-01-19T21:58:00-0800" class="timedate">Tue Jan 20, 12:58 am ET</abbr>

<!-- end .byline --> PORTLAND, Ore. – More than a year after denying it, the newly elected mayor of Portland has admitted having a sexual relationship with a male teenager in 2005.

Sam Adams, who is openly gay, acknowledged the relationship in a statement Monday, after the Willamette Week newspaper broke the story on its Web site.

In Washington, D.C., for the inauguration, Adams will cut his trip short to issue a public apology Tuesday afternoon in Portland, said Wade Nkrumah, his spokesman.

Adams, 45, said he and the teen were together in the summer of 2005, shortly after the teenager turned 18 in June, and when Adams was a city commissioner. The revelations come nearly a year and a half after Adams and the teen said rumors of a sexual relationship between them were false.

"I lied at the time because I was afraid that people would believe untrue rumors being circulated by an undeclared mayoral opponent that I had broken a law involving sexual relations with a minor. But this is not a good excuse," Adams said in his statement.

Despite the rumors, Adams coasted to victory in his race, making Portland the largest U.S. city to ever elect an openly gay mayor. He was sworn in Jan. 1.

In his statement Monday, Adams apologized to the teen for making him lie about the relationship. He also apologized to colleagues and voters.

The young man, now 21, did not immediately return a request for comment.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Oddly, the story doesn't mention his political party. The press protects it's own, right?

...

And, in this article, note once again the absence from either the Columbian OR the Associated Press any mention of Adams' party affiliation... and ponder, again, if you will, the fact that had Adams been a Republican, that affiliation would have been in every other word in the article.

The story doesn't mention his party affiliation because it's almost implicit (from a local perspective): Openly gay, Portland ... duh, of course he's a democrat (or a greenie or socialist).

Hardly the media bias you attempt to portray.

Having said all that, I hope Adams is ridden out on a rail, the guy was definitely not my choice for mayor

 

[Denny Crane]

The story doesn't mention his party affiliation because it's almost implicit (from a local perspective): Openly gay, Portland ... duh, of course he's a democrat (or a greenie or socialist).

Hardly the media bias you attempt to portray.

Having said all that, I hope Adams is ridden out on a rail, the guy was definitely not my choice for mayor

Compare this, say, to the Mark Foley scandal.

 

[barfo]

Be interesting to see how this plays out. Adams isn't exactly the first politician to get caught lying about sex with an intern. It could be, 10 years after Clinton, this isn't such a big shocker.

Adams is lucky that this comes out now - it's a long time till the next election, and the Obama coverage drowns this out today.

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

Be interesting to see how this plays out. Adams isn't exactly the first politician to get caught lying about sex with an intern. It could be, 10 years after Clinton, this isn't such a big shocker.

Adams is lucky that this comes out now - it's a long time till the next election, and the Obama coverage drowns this out today.

barfo

Compare this, say, to Mark Foley.

 

[barfo]

Compare this, say, to Mark Foley.

I can barely remember what the Mark Foley thing was about, so maybe you should do the comparison.
Wasn't Foley sending dirty text messages to House pages or something?

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

I can barely remember what the Mark Foley thing was about, so maybe you should do the comparison.
Wasn't Foley sending dirty text messages to House pages or something?

barfo

Yep, and not given any slack because Clinton could get away with it.

 

[barfo]

Yep, and not given any slack because Clinton could get away with it.

I believe Foley was a republican, a party known for its intolerance of anything other than missionary position heterosexual sex, so he had the hypocrisy problem to deal with that Clinton and Adams don't.

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

I believe Foley was a republican, a party known for its intolerance of anything other than missionary position heterosexual sex, so he had the hypocrisy problem to deal with that Clinton and Adams don't.

barfo

So being in the closet isn't being a hypocrite. Gotcha. Or the lying about it for a year doesn't make him one.

Hrm.

 

[barfo]

So being in the closet isn't being a hypocrite. Gotcha. Or the lying about it for a year doesn't make him one.

Hrm.

Adams wasn't in the closet. He's been openly gay for years.

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

Adams wasn't in the closet. He's been openly gay for years.

barfo

So the lie is ok. He was elected under false pretenses. But I suppose you could argue that Pelosi and the whole bunch of Democrats did likewise in 2006 so there's precedent. I wouldn't argue.

 

[barfo]

So the lie is ok. He was elected under false pretenses. But I suppose you could argue that Pelosi and the whole bunch of Democrats did likewise in 2006 so there's precedent. I wouldn't argue.

Pelosi lied about gay sex with an intern? That would be sort of interesting, if true.

And I'm not excusing Adams for lying about it - although I personally don't find lying about sex particularly terrible or unusual behavior. He did the "crime", he'll have to do whatever "time" the electorate decides upon.

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

Pelosi lied about gay sex with an intern? That would be sort of interesting, if true.

And I'm not excusing Adams for lying about it - although I personally don't find lying about sex particularly terrible or unusual behavior. He did the "crime", he'll have to do whatever "time" the electorate decides upon.

barfo

I think she lied about forcing the president to bring the troops home, for one. Seems like a bigger deal than any politician/intern scandal. There was also the pay as you go thingy, yet here we are with a > $1T deficit. What did she promise would be done in the first 100 hours? I don't remember, it doesn't seem to have been good for much. A big part of their win was due to the Foley scandal, "culture of corruption" and all that. And the press went to town with it.

 

[barfo]

I think she lied about forcing the president to bring the troops home, for one. Seems like a bigger deal than any politician/intern scandal. There was also the pay as you go thingy, yet here we are with a > $1T deficit. What did she promise would be done in the first 100 hours? I don't remember, it doesn't seem to have been good for much. A big part of their win was due to the Foley scandal, "culture of corruption" and all that. And the press went to town with it.

Eh, whatever. I don't much care for or about Pelosi, unless she's having illicit sex. That would be important. All that other stuff is irrelevant.

barfo

 

[MARIS61]

Oddly, the story doesn't mention his political party. The press protects it's own, right?

http://clarkcountypolitics.blogspot.com/2009/01/so-newly-elected-democrat-portland.html

So, newly-elected DEMOCRAT Portland Mayor Sam Adams had a sexual relationship with a teenager.

.
So, Sam Adams had a sexual relationship with a teenager.

That probably won’t make any difference to the idiots that voted for him. After all, as he takes his rightful place as the chief hedonist of Sodom-on-the-Willamette, that sort of thing is just par for his particular course.

Adams is a coward, both politically and morally. He’s not, finally, admitting to his perversion because it’s the right thing to do; no, that’s simply not possible. Instead, he’s fessin’ up because the Willamette Weekly has nailed him.

Had Mr. Adams been possessed of character, he would have told the truth before the election. But like most democrats striving to reach the bar lowered by Bill Clinton, that must depend on what your definition of “is,” is.

Mr. Adams must resign. Lying by omission, even if not technically illegal, provides him with no excuse.

He is not scum because he’s a promiscuous homosexual; that truly IS his business. What makes him scum is that he’s so PROUD of the fact that he nails other men, apparently even those just barely legal. And that, dear reader, is the kind of conduct that would INSTANTLY destroy a heterosexual politician, or even a politician with bisexual leanings… like Republican Congressman Mark Foley… and his democrat replacement who would, apparently, have sex with about anything that moved.

There will be few calls for his resignation. The double-standard is firmly in place, and homosexual politicians could, effectively, molest a Boy Scout troop and the MSM wouldn’t bat an eyelash… because, for their side, it’s ALWAYS “different.”

Adams should go, and do it right now. But he’s already proven he lacks the guts to dfo the right thing in the past… why would anyone believe he’d suddenly transform into a moral individual with something approaching character now?

And, in this article, note once again the absence from either the Columbian OR the Associated Press any mention of Adams' party affiliation... and ponder, again, if you will, the fact that had Adams been a Republican, that affiliation would have been in every other word in the article.

That's one of the most hatefully innaccurate homophobic rants I've seen for quite awhile.

You must be proud.

 

[julius]

He's 18, right? So who cares.

This just smells like people coming up with any reason to rail on a homosexual.