34 replies on “Lauderdale Says Adams Staying”

  1. Redden’s a helluva reporter, but his use of the phrase “former legislative aide” is misleading. Beau Breedlove was NOT an aide or an intern or in any other way an employee of the City of Portland or Sam Adams.

  2. So, Adams, regardless, wouldn’t go to jail “even if” and like any politician he can duck ethics investigations by pointing out that he wasn’t lying about not sleeping with a 17 year old– where’s the story?

    He’s been running the city for years, so if he told people “nunya”, who cares? Let him keep going. Creating this fantasy where Ball was a legitimate candidate and was being ethical in spreading an unsubstantiated rumor for personal and political gain is a suburban wet dream, but it isn’t reality.

  4. Well, there you have it, the word of a drug addict whose been known to flake and not show for concerts.

    That settles the issue once and for all.

  8. And just like that, Blabby dismissed 99.9% of all politicians and they flew off into the sky.

    Blabby, those are all things that exist in the vacuum of opinion and intentionally ignores the fact that this revelation was not in any way predicated on the implication of a mere sexual relationship between he and Breedlove, it was the rumor of Adams having a sexual relationship with a 17 year old intern of his, something far more salacious and at this point, almost certainly false.

    Saying “he lied about his relationship with Breedlove” is simplifying things because that is not what anyone is implying, they’re implying he’s lying about Breedlove’s age at the time of their sexual contact. Given the context of the accusations people are grounding their disapproval in, it’s fair to say that if Breedlove was 18, there is absolutely no reason this should be anything more than an asterisk by Adams’ name, especially since Adams denied having sex with a 17 year old.

    And really, if Potter’s Pals the Keystone Cops aren’t pursuing Adams after all the grief he put them through, why is it so hard to suspend implied guilt until a full investigation can come out?

  10. Alexjon: ‘Saying “he lied about his relationship with Breedlove” is simplifying things because that is not what anyone is implying’

    That’s precisely what I’m implying. His lying bothers me, period. Sam supporters have to accept that some of us have different standards for our elected leadership.

    This episode gives me very serious reservations. Whether he was 17 or 18, the lying bugs me and the lack of judgement bugs me. Sam’s own staff warned him at the time about the appearances of this, and he did it anyway. That points to some seriously deficient judgement and self-control.

  11. Blabby, try this on:

    – Absent illegal behavior, a candidate’s sex life should be his own business. You might not agree. I think most Portlanders would. Adams clearly does — he ignored his staff’s advice about the appearance of impropriety.

    – Adams’ claim that no one would have believed him if he’d said Breedlove was 18, not 17, is correct. The comment threads on this site have established that. And since you say it doesn’t matter to you whether Breedlove was 17 or 18, I’m guessing you’re with me so far.

    – Faced with this dilemma — allow your political career to be destroyed for no good reason by false rumors, or lie — he chose to lie. No question about that.

    – This is not a situation most of us face every day. I can put myself in Adams’ shoes. In a very small way I have been a public figure. If someone from the press suddenly asked me, “Have you ever committed adultery?”, I’d think fast and say no. Problem is, saying “no” to that question is going to be interpreted as “yes” and provoke further investigation. It’s a no-win situation. Perhaps you also think a public figure’s past adultery should be the public’s business. You’re free to think what you like.

    – What IS the public’s business, clearly, is violation of the law by an elected official. And that has not been established. Until that is done, I think it’s way early to light torches and burn down Frankenstein’s castle. It’s premature to call for recall/resignation.

    Some of the recall/resign voices are motivated by prior hatred of Adams. Some are driven by homophobia. And some feel hurt and betrayed by the lie/half-truth. (It’s hard to tell them apart.) I sympathize with those who were hurt. I was, too. Given the context, however, I’m willing to spot him the lie/half-truth, at least until the enquiries are over.

    Get the picture?

  12. Blabby, the rumor, again, is that he slept with a 17 year old employee of his. If Adams thought he was the best man for the job and the city agreed (as in, polls say yes, election results say yes), then it would be in the poorest of judgement to admit any private relations with Breedlove and in the best of judgement to deny the most salacious aspects of the rumor, which in retrospect is what appears to have happened.

    What is your alternative? Sho does not have mandate and Ball’s miserable lack of ethics and class (“ooh, gurl, guess what I hurd!”) make Adams look like he only lied about taking the last cookie in the City Hall breakroom. Do you want another Tom Potter?

    Sleaze or not, Adams has been instrumental in a lot of good things you get for living in Portland and probably take for granted. If this was about Portland’s well-being, then the best thing would be to kick Adams back to his desk and tell him to keep busy and keep his head down while looking for a suitable replacement for the next election.

  14. Guffman has far more tact than I do, it seems. I guess that’s why my friends from Queens and the Bronx say I’m about as subtle and polite as a kick to the groin.

    Which is funny to me, of course.

  15. Euphonius: Well, putting aside how long he has been involved in Portland politics, I think it’s safe to point to his direct involvement in PDOT, Arts and Culture, BES and all those huggy feely greeny things that have been done to the city’s utilities.

  16. hey blabby – i know plenty of people whose personal lives are a freaking mess but they are very competent professionals and leaders. if your doctor lies to his family about an affair are you going to question their judgment in taking out your appendix? if the person that prepares your taxes likes to date much younger people do you think your personal finances are in danger because of his self-control? i’m sure you’ll say something about elected officials and higher standards blah blah blah but we all have flaws. i’m not willing to trade professional qualifications for a squeaky clean personal life. i know this is a difficult concept for the high and mighty among us but there can be a separation between personal and work worlds.

  17. That’s the squishiest answer in the history of Blogtown, Alexjon.

    His “direct involvement” in a bunch of agencies? You said he had done a lot for this city. I’m still waiting for you to name one thing he did.

  18. The real question is why Adams won’t answer the editorials/comments/polls/bloggers/social workers with signs himself in his own words. I like Thomas Lauderdale and his music and his community involvement just fine, but why can’t Adams speak for himself? If Obama sent Aretha Franklin out to explain why he was holed up at home and not showing for work we’d have a problem – because that is not how responsible elected officials should behave. Adams needs to step up and give us an answer to these calls for resignation himself, not by sending out unelected prominent (and talented musician) friends to make excuses for him.

  20. Clinton enjoyed some nasty-assed fuckery in the Oval Office and life for me was pretty good. He made poor decisions when it came to his gob, but great decisions when it came to his job. Bush was careful to walk the straight and narrow lest he offend Jesus and his flock, and when it came to running the country he let the devious corporate elite and war-hungry run amok. I see a direct correlation here. Sam has been good for Portland.

  21. “Other previous council candidates, including businessman David Lister, say they are too busy to consider it.”

    I’m really not doing much of anything…

  22. Here’s what’s causing me the greatest frustration in all of this: Everyone’s focusing on the lie, when the real issue is the manipulation.

    I honestly suspect that had Adams simply lied, simply said “no, this is not true, that’s all I’m saying, let’s move on”, when it eventually came to pass that the ‘no” was a lie, it would be a story but not a debacle.

    The virulence of people’s anger over the lie, I think, is about what Adams did rather than simply lie. Rather than simply lie, he belabored the point, making a production out of calling it an irresponsible smear and “homophobic stereotyping”.

    Rather than lying and then moving on from the lie, he built up an entire outright elaborate manipulation of the public around that lie. And that’s what’s causing him the trouble now that the lie itself has been outed.

    But everyone’s focusing on the lie. Even in this thread, people are acting like all he did was simply lie and then move on, and wouldn’t we all do the same thing, etc.

    But I don’t think it’s the lie that’s the issue. It’s the manipulation. And I don’t think we’d all manipulate people on top of lying. But the Mayor did, and that’s not irrelevant. It is, in fact, the actual issue.

  23. b!X, the manipulation was the press’ bag. They coerced, cajoled and threatened Adams with an indelible link to the rumor that he slept with a 17 year old employee of his.

    It’s funny that the outrage was first “the kid was 17”, then it was “Adams lied”, then it was “he forced Bob Ball out of the race”, now it is “he manipulated the press”. Adams has said little to nothing in all of this beyond what he wrongly thought would be a press-satisfying weepy admission over his naughty emission. The WW, Oregonian and Tribune are not unbiased, and in their struggle for a story, they’re manipulating public opinion in an effort to be the one to scoop the story and claim victory.

    Take a 10-second breather, please, it’ll do you good.

  24. Alexjon, that’s nice horseshit revisionism, but I assume it’s accidental because you’re focused on this week taken out of context, while I’m talking about last year, when the actual lie (which is irrelevant) and the related manipulation (which isn’t) occurred.

    I didn’t say he manipulated the press. I said he manipulated the public.

    And that’s exactly what he did in 2007 when he failed to stop at lying, and instead smugly marched merrily along into his elaborate hand-waving over how even making the allegation was just inappropriate smearing and “homophobic stereotype”. That’s not merely lying, and it isn’t something we should accept on the basis of “we’d all lie about stupid personal sex questions”, because while we might, what most of us would NOT do is then keep talking past the lie in order to try to manipulate the situation.

    I’ll leave the breather to you. Maybe you can use it to remember that this isn’t about the past four days. It’s about what Adams said last year.

  25. Bix I gotta agree with John. The amount of righteous indignance going on is pretty astounding. Some are, “it’s not the sex it’s the lie.” Or like yourself about how he manipulated the situation.

    If we all stepped back and put ourselves in Sam’s shoes many of us would probably have done exactly the same thing. Remember the story of the little white lie that grew bigger? Well in Sam’s case it was Ball telling reporters Sam slept with a 17 year old so he could bolster his own campaign for mayor over Sam’s. Then the press went and asked Sam if he slept with a 17 year old. Sam was probably a little shocked and said no…then he had to run with it.

    I’m not trying to say he was right…I’m just trying to say he’s human like all of us. My parents taught me how to forgive.

    Plus, think about this one, the best the city had to offer against Sam was bumble bumble Dozono. You really want that guy in city hall? Anyone that does probably needs to have their judgment questioned.

  26. Alexjon, Guffman, others I’m too lazy to scroll back up and find:

    We simply have different standards. The things that don’t bother you, do bother me.

    I actually don’t want him to resign. I’d like the city to vote on recalling him. If the city agrees with you, so be it. I just wish it could happen earlier than this fall.

    What has flustered me about the “conversation” on this site is not that some people think that Adams should stay on, but that they don’t admit to being at all uncomfortable with anything he’s done.

    “He screwed up royally, and it will be hard to trust him, but he should stay” is one thing. “Portland is prude and everyone should mind their own business” is another thing. People who say the latter seem to have no standards for elected officials. Lying vociferously and crying homophobia should at least make supporters uncomfortable.

    The other thing that bothers me is the insistence on the “legal” standard. Voters can vote or not vote for leadership based on ANYTHING. There is not narrow legal standard for politicians. We can reject him because we don’t like his tie. So the fact that his behavior “isn’t illegal” is beside the point in assessing his integrity and character.

  27. Garrett: Since you’re such a forgiving sort, I’ll get in the spirit too and forgive your snide and irrelevant name-calling up thread.

    Alexjon: Sam’s supporters keep claiming that the media made Sam lie. It’s not true. Two years ago there were lots of rumors within the gay community about this relationship that reached many people’s ears, including Vera Katz, Bob Ball, Randy Leonard and others. Sam released an “Open Letter to Portlanders” in order to elaborate on his mentoring relationship and to confront the homophobic smear campaign against him. He went on KATU news and had meetings with Just Out, at HIS request.

    The media didn’t ask him about this and they didn’t force him to lie. They didn’t force him to fabricate a storyline about “reaching out” to a troubled young gay man. He did that all by himself.

    The growing myth of “he had to lie when confronted with an inapropriate question” is only the latest abject fabrication by Sam’s apologists.

    I agree with Blabby. Don’t you guys feel at least a little bit ashamed of the things you’re rationalizing?

  28. When you have no standards, you can have no shame, while claiming to be moral.
    The intellectual equivalent of sticking hands over ears shouting blahblahblah

  29. Unfortunately for SAM;
    He has bungled this whole event.
    He should have NEVER done that interview!
    All he needed to do was make a statement and go about his business as if nothing had happened.

    Now he looks weak and ineffectual as he stays home and weeps about his problems.

    Sorry Sam, you blew it, not on the lust thing but on your handling of the situation.

  30. Euphonius, Bob Ball went to Katz and Leonard DIRECTLY and openly made the accusation, knowing that they were close associates of Adams and knowing that any legitimate information he had, as a reserve officer, must be legally brought to the appropriate authorities. Adams’ friends, appropriate? Yeah, right. The letter to Portland (Sept. 18th) came the day after the WW had written a long and extensive story that repeated the rumor. The letter makes no mention or cover-up of the fact of sexual relations, it simply dismisses in a roundabout way the rumor, which again, was that he had sex with a 17 year old.

    Of course, the biggest question, Euphonius, is on what grounds can you, or anyone, declare guilt so absolutely? We’re still waiting to find out if Breedlove was 18 or not, but until then, I’m not ready to scream apologist since the most fundamental right of anyone is innocence before guilt. I’m also not going to presume that you’ve never lied in any aspect of your life, so it’s fairly hard to believe you’re so adamant about Adams’ guilt.

    You treat a lie as an absolute.

  32. “We simply have different standards. The things that don’t bother you, do bother me”: Now you’re pissing me off, Blabby. Don’t you dare suggest this hasn’t bothered me. I have posted repeatedly my distress at Adams’ behavior. In this thread and others. It took me three full days of hard thinking, meditation and prayer to sort it all out. (Those who see nothing wrong in anything Adams did care nothing for the city or for politics. It’s the jaded-hipster POV. IMO.)

    I see Adams’ position — faced with a false rumor about something that was NO ONE’S BUSINESS IN THE FIRST PLACE — as a BIG mitigating factor in the coverup. (I find it interesting that you have not addressed that factor, not even once.) And in that context I’m willing to wait until we get FACTS about what really matters, i.e. the possibility of criminal behavior.

    Know what, Blabby? I think you were an Adams-hater before this thing broke, and this is just a good opportunity to get your licks in. And as such, your opinions on the situation are worthy of absolutely no further attention.

  33. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Guffman. Everybody’s a “hater” who raises an issue that you don’t think is important. You’re the best example of a hater here anyway, since your posts are mostly name-calling and bullshit.

    I take back what I said about forgiveness. You’re a total fucking dick.

  34. “You’re the best example of a hater here anyway, since your posts are mostly name-calling and bullshit”: Dissect my “name-calling, bullshit” analysis of Adams’ dilemma surrounding that rumor, do. No one else has.

    Or if you’d rather focus on Adams’ record and make boffo gags about the Pro-Corruption Rally, that’s jake with me, too.

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