On this Martin Luther King Day we were all reminded of the dream of a nation where people would be judged only by the content of their character. Well, that day has come for Mayor Sam Adams.
Mr. Adams has admitted to having sex with an 18 year old boy and then lying about it. To protect his precious mayoral campaign, he then asked the boy to lie about it as well.
The English language has a term for this action; it’s called a conspiracy. And Mr. Adams was a public official when he knowingly perpetrated this conspiracy.
Did he break the law? No. Was it wrongdoing? You betcha.
I voted for you, Mr. Adams. I believed in you and in the strength of your character. And I can’t take my vote back.
Sam Adams, you are a big fraud and it is time for you to step down.
{ 20 comments }
I am struggling with this one as well. I’m less concerned with the sexual component than I am with the dishonesty. What kind of message does this send – that the ends justify the means? I don’t think so…
I disagree
I judge politicians based on how they vote and what policies they put forth. Not how they try to cover up embarrassing sexual relationships.
So far Adams has done a fine job.
Am i disappointed, oh yeah. You have no idea how mad i am at him on so many levels for this.
BUT he is human, he made a mistake. He did not break the law, and in a reasonable society he would not have felt any need to lie about something like this.
Unfortunately we don’t live in a reasonable society. We almost got rid of a good president for lying about a blow job.
I think sam can get past this.
don’t blame me, i voted for kodos
I drink your embarrassed homosexual 18 year old love trysts. I drink them up!
If you were in a job interview and were asked if you liked kinky sex position X and while yes, you love to do kinky sex position X, you knew that it had no relevance to the job you were interviewing for, but that your future potential boss was a bit conservative and it could keep you from the getting the job – would you lie to your potential boss and say no you don’t?
So it’s ok to lie as long as you deem the question to be inappropriate? And it’s ok to instruct other people to lie so that you can get the job?
And why is it inappropriate to ask a 42 year old mayoral candidate if it’s true that he’s been diddling a high schooler? Wait, could it be that such actions would indicate the guy suffers from severely bad judgement and is unfit to lead this city?
Divebar, the correct answer to your question is “no comment.” That Sam Adams didn’t make this choice at the time shows he’s a dumbass in addition to being morally bankrupt.
It’s not any of our business who he fucks. And “diddling a high schooler” does not make one have bad judgment. The kid is 18, he’s an adult, mind your own business. I’m not one for lying, yet politics is a game of lying, manipulation, and playing mind games. No comment would have only yearned him tons of rumors and everyone focusing on the fact he won’t comment, instead of the real situation at hand. It’s not a good situation by any means, however, if we all learned that one’s sexual history is not up for scrutiny or discussion then this shit would not come up. I’m really sick and tired of hearing about who people are fucking, and how they’re doing it. Would it have made a difference if they were deeply in love and wanted to have a commitment ceremony?
“And “diddling a high schooler” does not make one have bad judgment. ”
Oh really? Sam was the mentor to this kid and he himself has said that the relationship was inappropriate.
@Cree -
I’m going to agree with the divabarwife crowd. Asking a person with whom and how they have sex is no ones business. The first act of poor judgement that Sam exercised is in answering the question. He should have just declined to state and said it was a personal matter. Now on the other hand if Mr. Breedlove was under 18, then Sam will have to go.
I don’t think it was wrong for him to lie to the press about a purely personal issue.
I disagree with you. I feel your viewpoint is naive and betrays a lack of thought on the issue as well as a knee-jerk intolerance.
And I hope he does not submit to the bullying of the press and resign.
If I were a Portland voter I’d have more of an interest in this mess, but regardless of one’s views I can’t imagine that staying at home and canceling city business meetings is the best response to this. I don’t think that the problem is going to go away if he simply ignores it…
I read it as people aren’t really reacting to the having sex with Beau part — most of us consider the bedroom off limits — what they’re upset about are the cover-up lies. Now Sam is far from the first politician to lie, but unfortunately for him, I think people finally have had enough of that.
That’s certainly my reaction — Obama’s inauguration was all about new hope, yet on that same day, we had to deal with Sam and the same old Portland s***.
I personally am tired of it. I did vote for the guy, but now I want him out. His credibility has taken a severe hit and, frankly, this city has too many problems that need to be solved now. We don’t have time for him to ride it out.
I could go on and on with rebuttals, but why do that when Dave Lister has already said everything I’d say myself?
It’s About Character (guest opinion posted at OregonLive)
Cause no 42 year old straight man has ever had a fantasy about doing it with a hot 18 year old girl and no 18 year old straight guy has ever had a “Mrs. Robinson” fantasy.
Regardless of that I think it’s time we all stepped down from our high horses and let everyone get about city business.
Clinton lied under oath to a grand jury about sex with an intern that was actually employed by him and The Oregonian didn’t ask for him to resign. Seems like a strange double standard to demand the resignation of a mayor for lying about a sexual relationship with an 18 year old adult male not employed by the mayor, mayor’s office, or city of Portland.
Why do the people who keep wondering why we’re focusing so much on sex keep making this about sex? The man — our mayor, thank you, not just any “42-year-old straight man” — lied, covered up, and possibly abused his power in doing so.
I don’t really care what the Oregonian has said in past scandals, any more than I cared when they endorsed George Bush.
And people who keep asking everyone to “step down from their high horses” … I’m sure you had the same attitude every time someone criticized Bush? Or can Adams simply do no wrong?
That’s a pretty bizarre sort of thing to happen in a job interview, given the laws of our State and Nation. The answer to that question is, “Thank you for your time. Goodbye.”
Come back when you can add something to this thread, OK?
The O is reporting this morning that Beau said that he and the mayor kissed while he was still 17.
Looks like we’re probably going to get into another one of those “depends on what your definition of sex is” situations like we had with Clinton/Lewinksi’s oral deal.
Are you seriously trying to define kissing as sex? Because I’ve got about a million child-sex acts to report, including but not limited to incest. Those filthy perverts are sexing their kids up right now, in plain sight!
The simple facts are that Mayor Adams displayed very poor decision making. He lied and encouraged another to lie for him. I agree that the mayor’s personal life is none of our business. However, if the mayor truly felt that there was nothing wrong with the relationship he should have been honest about it from the beginning. I personally do not want a mayor in office who exercises poor decision making and lies.
This is not about sex or how people engage in sex. This is about poor decision making and cover-up lies.
Comments on this entry are closed.