Portland Mayor Cleared of Wrongdoing

Jim Burroway

June 23rd, 2009

Portland Mayor Sam Adams, the first openly gay mayor of a major American city, has been cleared of wrongdoing by Oregon Attorney General John Kroger. The Attorney General’s six-month investigation looked into charges that Adams broke the law by engaging in sexual relations with Beau Breedlove before Breedlove turned 18. Kroger concluded that Breedlove lacked credibility as a witness and that no other corroborating witnesses came forward. Investigators interviewed 57 witness as part of their investigation and concluded:

Here, there are serious questions about the credibility of Breedlove’s account, due to his prior inconsistent statements, the lack of corroborating witnesses or evidence, his attempt to gain personally from matters related to his involvement with Adams and his prior criminal record,” the report states.

“Accordingly, we have concluded there is insufficient evidence to charge, let alone convict, Adams with illegal sexual contact with a minor.”

The report questioned Breedlove’s credibility, saying that he had sought media attention as far back as December 2007. The report found that Breedlove has since benefited financially as a result of his story, citing the cover story on Breedlove in the May issue of Unzipped magazine.

The Attorney General’s report also looked into two other allegations of wrongdoing. One allegation surrounded the hiring of a Portland Mercuryreporter by Adams’ staff after that reporter contacted Adams about rumors of a relationship with Breedlove. The report found that there was no credible evidence that Adams hired the reporter to cover up the affair. The report also looked into an allegation of official misconduct for misuse of government resources, but found no evidence to support those charges either.

Adams still faces a recall effort. Nevada Senator John Ensign however, does not.

Joe

June 23rd, 2009

If he’s doing a good job, why the persecution? Stop the witch hunt!

Stand by your Mayor!

Thomas Kraemer

June 23rd, 2009

The Portland, Oregon digital TV channel 2-1 KATU has been owned for years by a Catholic family owned corporation who used to feature a Catholic sermon during the Sunday news broadcast. Their news coverage on gay issues is normally “fair and balanced” as Fox News. Their newscast on the morning after the day Sam Adams was cleared of charges featured a live reporter standing at City Hall who breathlessly reported that Mayor Sam Adams may have been cleared of criminal charges, but (cut to interview with recall leader) “it will make no difference” because he lied about sex and therefore must be removed from office. The reporter then tied it to the threatened foreclosure of two houses owned by Sam Adams, but she did not mention Adam’s publically stated reason for why he fell behind in payments. Other stations reported Adams said he was unable to pay his house payments because he had to pay the bill of his criminal defense attorney in advance even though he was innocent and did not have illegal sex with a minor.

Although a few gay Portland citizens, including a local gay newspaper editor, think Adam’s should resign, it is clear that the main recall efforts are being fueled by homophobic Christian-Republicans. Given that the vast majority of Portland residents forgave President Clinton for lying about not having “sex with that woman,” if Portland voters do the opposite and recall Mayor Sam Adams over a similar lie about sex, it will prove the recall is due to voter’s homophobia and not just the sexual prudishness or sanctimoniousness of voters.

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