Publications Call For Sam Adams’ Resignation
The editorial boards of the Oregonian, the Portland Tribune and Just Out have all issued calls for Portland Mayor Sam Adams to resign following yesterday’s announcement that he had sex with an 18-year-old and lied to cover it up.
The Portland Police Association is also calling for Adams’ resignation, which isn’t all that surprising given the traditional antagonism between the mayor’s office and the PPD.
The story is also getting more tangled by the moment. From a different Oregonian article:
Questions are also being raised over the hiring of a Portland Mercury reporter who had confronted Adams’ about the relationship.
In early 2008, Amy Ruiz confronted Adams about the relationship but then later dropped the story. By the end of the year, she had joined Adams’ staff as a planning and sustainability policy adviser even though she had no experience as an adviser.
For the record, you should never trust a journalist who goes into government work. It’s like a firefighter becoming a pyrotechnician. (Okay, that’s not the best analogy, but I couldn’t think of a better one. Seriously, though, how one can hold a job documenting the folly and foibles of bureaucracy and then decide to join said bureaucracy is beyond me.)
w0rd
Betz:
Not only that, but there are civil laws that have been potentially breached, specifically in regards to slander against a fellow city employee, as well as alleged ethical issues regarding the hiring of a reporter that was investigating him in order to suppress the story.
In this case, the sex was not the problem. It was the cover-up and the degrees that Sam Adams went to in order to make sure this issue didn’t come out before he got the keys to the city.
donald: I agree with you … if it were just a little lie about having sex with an intern (and we all know that politicians have a hard time resisting young, nubile interns that are eager to please), then yes, people would be upset, but I think most people would get over it. The issue isn’t just THAT he lied; I think more to the point is the DEGREE to which he continued the lie. I mean, he tried to pull a massive cover-up of the affair when it was first questioned in 2007. He got quite a few people involved in lying with him, and smeared his critics with allegations of homophobia. This is a man who is resourceful enough to sweep this kind of thing under the rug during an election season; and this is the kind of person, one who would rather construct a conspiracy and smear campaign, that we entrust with executive power? I don’t think so; we deserve better. This has everything to do with his ability to execute his office; how can he do his job when a lot of people do not find him worthy of office?
Its like working in a cubicle farm when you’re the guy everyone hates: you might not think that being hated has anything to do with your ability to do your job, but all of a sudden you find it harder to schedule meetings, get help from co-workers, work as a team. These are all very real situations that could hurt his effectiveness in office.
Re Point number 2): God only knows.
To all those who claim that the public outrage isn’t about sex, it’s about the cover up:
1). Whenever “it’s not about sex,” it’s about sex;
2). If lying were enough to get you kicked out of office, George W. would have been out 7 years ago;
3). If it were some sexual activity conducted within the confines of marriage, no questions would be posited. But thanks to those who oppose gay marriage, the Mayor doesn’t have marriage as an ‘acceptable’ context in which to conduct his private life;
4). If he didn’t break the law and it has nothing to do with his ability to execute his office, IT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.
I really wonder why he lied. It isn’t like he was compelled by court order to talk about it.
What is wrong with answering questions from the media about your personal sex life with:
“It is none of your business.” or “No comment.”
/I should go into media relations.
Anyone who hires Amy Ruiz into a public position should not be allowed to be the leader of anything.
“It
Portland Business Journal, too.
He got caught.
This differentiates him from other politicians exactly how?
…but he slept with a legal, consenting adult.
He also lied about it, told said legal, consenting adult to lie about it as well, and called everyone who was asking questions about it a homophobe.
Guy’s a liar and a major league scumbag. He may not have done anything against the law, but the chances of him being an effective public servant at this point are essentially nil.
And here I was actually getting ready to like a mayor of Portland…
Now, I don’t know, with the Oregonian calling him out I just don’t know if I can resist their state-wide influence. It’s just too much.
It’s not about sex, moron, it’s about the cover-up.
Insane. The guy didn’t even sleep with a minor. The kid came out and said they didn’t start sleeping together until he was a *legal adult*. Yeah, Sam lied. That sucks for him since it just adds fuel to the fire, but he slept with a legal, consenting adult.
That shouldn’t be a scandal. Too bad that the kid wasn’t underage, then I could start calling Sam Adams the official beer of Child Molesters.