By Calvin Palmer
The Mayor of Portland, Oregon, is under pressure to resign after he admitted he lied by denying he had a sexual relationship with a teenage boy.
Mayor Sam Adams, 45, admitted this week that he lied to cover up his relationship with a teenage legislative intern because a potential mayoral candidate had spread rumors that Adams had sex with a minor.
Adams said the teenager was 17 when they met in 2005 but the relationship did not turn sexual until the boy turned 18. He said he lied because he was afraid voters wouldn’t believe the boy had turned 18 before they started having sex.
The city’s newspapers are calling for Adams to step down, among them Just Out, which serves the gay and lesbian community. Its editorial board issued a statement saying “Adams has failed to show the principled character that this publication feels is a basic requirement for an elected official.”
The other newspapers are The Oregonian, The Portland Tribune and the Portland Business Journal.
In the face of this growing pressure, Oregon Attorney General John Kroger has agreed to investigate whether a crime was committed.
Questions have also arisen about Adams’ hiring of newspaper reporter Amy Ruiz to his staff. Ruiz worked for the Portland Mercury and had confronted Adams about the relationship with the teen in early 2008.
She dropped the story and was added to Adams’ staff as a planning and sustainability policy adviser, an area in which she lacked experience.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Adams denied hiring Ruiz because of her investigation. He said he left all hiring work to his chief of staff, Tom Miller, and that he didn’t know she had applied until she showed up for an interview.
City commissioner Nick Fish said the commissioners met yesterday and joined the request for an investigation by the attorney general. They have decided to withhold comment until that investigation was completed.
Adams became mayor on New Year’s day and unless he resigns or there is evidence of a crime, he will remain in office for the first half of 2009 because state law bars any mayoral recall until after six months.
[Based on a report by Associated Press.]
