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Posted on 01/26/2009 6:55:52 AM PST by Bean Counter
By staying in office, Portland Mayor Sam Adams puts the city's interests well below his political ambitions
Portland Mayor Sam Adams decided on Sunday to ride out his self-created debacle and remain in office, despite a looming investigation about possible sexual misconduct and abuse of power.
He made his choice known in a manner befitting the occasion, by phoning a half-asleep city commissioner and leaving voice mails for two others.
Adams doesn't get the final say, however. The community will decide his political fate, preferably through a recall election.
The newly seated mayor admitted last week to lying repeatedly about a sexual relationship with a teenager in order to gain higher office. A new interview published in The Sunday Oregonian with the young man, now 21, suggests Adams continues to doctor the truth even while professing to come clean.
Yet many Portlanders have rallied to Adams' side, urging him to remain in power. Some are from organizations that have benefited financially and politically from Adams' presence in City Hall. Some don't want to land on Adams' bad side by failing to back him. Others consider Adams' leadership indispensable and are willing to overlook unprofessional behavior, unethical campaign tactics and perhaps even criminal misconduct if necessary.
We think Adams said it best last week: No one is indispensable.
Adams spent the past few days in seclusion while he consulted with friends and advisers. He has described these conversations as candid, and we don't doubt he believes they were. Meantime, other city leaders and political factions put forth signals that Adams' political and governmental skills were too essential for the city to lose.
Only a political culture consumed by appearances and moved by empty symbolism, instead of substance, could have reached that conclusion. A city that cannot even imagine better leadership than this is in deep trouble.
This was a moment when Portland's civic community needed to see clearly the difference between right and wrong but failed to do so.
Telling the truth is right. Lying, then conducting a political campaign that depended entirely on maintaining and expanding the lie is wrong. Adams' perceived competence doesn't change that reality.
We don't think that sex between consenting adults generally is a fit topic for public discussion, even if one of them is a politician. That's not a universal opinion, of course, which is why Adams decided to lie. He didn't think voters would believe his teenage friend was of legal age when they had sex.
Whether he was or he wasn't is now the subject of an attorney general's investigation. It may also be one topic of a recall effort this summer. No doubt many Portlanders would prefer to put this behind them and wish we all could just take Adams at his word.
Unfortunately, that is no longer possible.
Still developing....
Oregon *ping* please...
How does sleeping with a teenager get you into higher office?
“How does sleeping with a teenager get you into higher office?”
Perhaps that should read “higher orifice”.
The media isn’t so angry at themselves for taking this sodomite’s Republican challenger to task for INJECTING such an ugly “rumor” into the scampaign.
Adams will survive. He’ll win a recall election if it happens.
He’s following the Clinton model: Delay, deny, delay, deny, delay, deny. It’s worked before and it will work again.
Used to say that the only thing that would get a lib dem in trouble (Clinton and Monica, Rangel, Blago, etc) is pedophilia - looks like that’s OK with dems, too.
This is merely part of the homosexual lifestyle. Go to the Oregonian site, comment, and observe how many people support this sicko. In the civilized world Sammie would be jailed and placed on a sexual predator list.
What they really used to say is that in order to bring down a Politician, you needed either a dead woman or a live boy. This time the Attorney General has that live boy, and before the statute of limitations ran out this time.
I give it 50/50 odds whether he survives or not. If one more allegation pops up that he has not already admitted to, he will be done, because I think at that point the other City Commissioners would call for him to resign, and that he could not ignore.
I don’t think this will come to a recall, I think it’s much more likely he will resign under pressure before a recall can even be started.
I witnessed some of the reactions yesterday at a local Fred Meyers here in NE Portland when some poor schmuk, who bore a generalized likeness to the mayor, became the focus of stares, whispers, and laughter from shoppers as he went about his shopping...he finally abandoned his cart and left the store. It’s so neat to have a such a respected Mayor that his lookalikes have to flee.
Sam Adams was the city commissioner in charge of transportation. It was a horribly run department. If he runs the city the way he did transportation, he will destroy Portland.
He admitted to lying about having sex with an 18 year old male intern that he was mentoring and then instructing the kid to lie about it. Now there are reports that the relationship started BEFORE the kid’s 18th birthday with kissing (and I’m finding it hard to believe the updated story).
... and Sam Adams stated awhile back that the homophobic stereotype is that gays cannot be trusted around young people. They should bust him for that con job too!
Yep - kissing in the men's room. How romantic.
BTW - is it just me or does Sam look like he could be Bwaney Fwank's kid brother?
You have a point there (lol).
Yes, I don’t believe that this sexual relationship with the 18 year old male intern began just after the kid’s 18th birthday (but before).
Of course, as Rush puts it, it is a resume’ enhancement for the Democrats.
OK, I guess but Mark Foley only sent nasty, suggestive emails and the dems won the House back - this is worse yet the guy - according to you - has to have just one more indiscretion to be out. Doesn’t it seem like SOME people can be caught with a goat and everyone will say he was milking it?
There is no doubt that Sam Adam’s membership in a protected political class (openly practicing homosexual politician) is bumping directly into pedophilia law in the State of Oregon. In the long run I think Sam loses, and loses big.
If a Male teacher were accused of kissing a 17 year old girl, and coaching her along until her 18th birthday had passed so they could have sex, the teacher would already be in jail and would be registering as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
What is getting little or no attention is that this twink was a legislative intern, and I have not heard who sponsored him in Salem, or what they think about Beau’s behavior when he was 17 and supposedly at the Statehouse for reasons other than trolling for homosexual encounters.
Beau’s Daddy must be really proud...
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“A city that cannot even imagine better leadership than this is in deep trouble.”
Well, it’s about time the Oregonian found its Moral compass. Time for Portland to do so as well. Too bad most Portlanders are too morally corrupt themselves to stand up for whats right. They would have to gut check themselves first and they don’t have the intestinal fortitude to do it.
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