Openly Gay Portland Mayor Admits Relationship With Teenager

The gay mayor had to cut short his trip to the Obama inaugural.

How sad.

More than a year after denying it, the newly elected mayor of Portland has admitted having a sexual relationship with a male teenager in 2005.

Sam Adams, who is openly gay, acknowledged the relationship in a statement Monday, after the Willamette Week newspaper broke the story on its Web site.

In Washington, D.C., for the inauguration, Adams will cut his trip short to issue a public apology Tuesday afternoon in Portland, said Wade Nkrumah, his spokesman.

Adams, 45, said he and the teen were together in the summer of 2005, shortly after the teenager turned 18 in June, and when Adams was a city commissioner. The revelations come nearly a year and a half after Adams and the teen said rumors of a sexual relationship between them were false.

"I lied at the time because I was afraid that people would believe untrue rumors being circulated by an undeclared mayoral opponent that I had broken a law involving sexual relations with a minor. But this is not a good excuse," Adams said in his statement.

But the fact he's a Democrat (although the story omits that fact) makes it OK. Lying is all part of the job when you're a Democrat in good standing.

Not everyone in the area is happy with the guy. Better watch out, though, you might be called a homophobe.

Sam Adams has definitely let the city of Portland down. He lied about his sexual relationship with an 18 year old intern and then lied to the people and told the boy to lie to cover this up - all before the election. Adams is a predator, a manipulator, a con artist and a liar. How do we know the boy wasn't 17 when the relationship started and then it becomes a criminal matter?

What about Adams hiring a reporter named Amy Ruiz from The Mercury into the Office of Sustainability? Ruiz openly admits she has zero experience. Was this a thank you from Sam Adams for the Mercury burying the story months ago? Probably. Randy Leonard and Vera Katz should publicly apologize to Sam Adams early mayoral opponent Mr. Ball for smearing his name and character.

What a person does in their private life directly reflects how they are in public - both are intertwined, inseparable. How do we know when Adams is lying to us? How can he be trusted?