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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
