Joey: As far as I know, it was a woman named Hollie who organized the rally. And Storm Large has been hanging out with Sam for a while. She played at his inauguration party, for one.

Joey,
You have some misinformation. And it's frustrating to see folks who worked hard in the last minute to make the rally happen be dissed in your letter.

This is what I know as the truth. Thomas Lauderdale put together a Noon press conference at City Hall earlier on the day of the Rally. Gus Van Sant was at neither event, but sent a message of support.

Hollie Teal was the main organizer of the Rally, she started the blog, http://samisstillmymayor.blogspot.com/. You can read back in the blog to see how the rally came together. Marc Acito came in and helped gather speakers at the rally, he got a noise permit to make the rally legal, and got a generator, and probably much more. The rally sounded so good because of Marc. Hollie was out getting the media together, doing interview and such. I helped with sign making the night before, and day of and also spent several days getting the word out about the rally. And personally I thought Storm's sing-a-longs made the Rally even better. She's truly Portland's first lady.

I'm sorry your Rally Recap pretty much missed the mark. And is far from the truth of it for most people who where there or made it happen.

What did you do for the rally Joey besides showing up and complaining?

Robin states "it has been determined he did nothing illegal"... really? I wasn't aware the Attorney General's investigation into election fraud, hiring fraud and illegal sexual activity was complete. Please let me know where I can get a copy of the clean bill of legal health Adams has been given. Thanks.

carvebve

In your lust for Storm, you are missing the point here - the rally wasn't about HER... it was about SAM. It was disgusting watching her usual antics in such a public forum. She needs to save that for her so called "act".

I could not agree with Joey more, that rally of freaks did more to hurt Sam than it did to help him.

It was a reminder of when the gay movement started and everyone thought gay men were drag queens...

Hey Joey:

I'm Hollie Teal and I started the blog (samisstillmymayor.blogspot.com) that lead to the rally in support of Sam on January 23. I'm sorry you came away from the rally with the impression that it was about anything other than a raucous crowd coming together in support of our mayor.

With the help of Carye Bye, Sue Brown, Marc Acito, Storm Large, Dan Savage, and 500+ other Sam Adams supporters, we held a large, loud, and (it appears, since he's still our mayor) effective rally that Friday at city hall. Thomas Lauderdale didn't plan (or attend, as far as I know) the rally. Gus Van Sant was out of town, but sent Zoobomber Handsome Dave to read a message of his support.

Do you know why Marc Acito and Storm Large and Dan Savage were there? Because I asked them to be there. I'm far from a "C-list celebrity", and I knew I needed some folks who are gifted speakers and performers to get the word out in support of our mayor. And I have no regrets whatsoever how it all turned out.

I'm incredibly proud of the rally, but the reality is that it wasn't me who made it so amazing. I was just the first person to say, "Hey! We can't let Sam resign! We need to fight for him!" The real work came mostly from Marc Acito, who worked damned hard to make sure the whole thing came together beautifully. And he did it in about 8 hours. That isn't a C-list celebrity; that's someone who cares enough about his city to pound the pavement and use his own time and money to show it.

Based on your assessment, I'm lead to believe that you didn't attend the rally to support Sam. Maybe you were on the fence about it. Or maybe you had your mind up that 42 year old men shouldn't have sex wit 18 year olds. That's fine: you're entitled to that. But to characterize the rally as anything other than a show of support for Sam is not only unfair, it's simply wrong.