Portland, Ore Mayor admits to gay sex with 18 y/o
Portland Mayor Sam Adams apologizes for 'sexual relationship' with teenager
by Michelle Roberts, The Oregonian
Tuesday January 20, 2009, 4:00 PM
• The story so far
Portland Mayor Sam Adams held a news conference at 1:30 p.m. today in City Hall to discuss reports of his sexual relationship with a teenager. Reporter Michelle Roberts is sending dispatches from the news conference.
2:06 p.m.
Adams admitted to sleeping with Breedlove as soon as three weeks after his 18th birthday. The relationship, Adams said, lasted "maybe two months. We went on maybe three or four dates. I can tell you that although I found that Beau was smart, engaging and a decent fellow, that the experience of dating someone that much younger, I didn't find it compelling."
Adams said he knew what he did was morally wrong, but at the time "my greater concern was, under 18, illegal." He also said he once served as a reference for Breedlove following their affair.
Mayor Sam Adams speaks to the media
1:59 p.m.
Adams was grilled by reporters, admitting that he was "ashamed, humbled and humiliated." Later in the press conference, said he would resign if it "was in the city's best interest."
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During the conference, a representative from the Portland Police Association called for Adams to step down, saying that the situation places Adams at risk of "blackmail" that could impact the city.
"Had they attempted to blackmail me, I would have taken the appropriate steps," Adams said, adding that he expects he will be subjected to additional scrutiny and to "regain people's trust, which I know I have to do."
1:45 p.m.
"I want to apologize to the people of Portland for my dishonesty," Adams said.
"This is about a public official lying," he said. "It's not about sexual orientation."
1:38 p.m.
In his first face-off with reporters, Portland Mayor Sam Adams apologized for "a sexual relationship" he had with Beau Breedlove and for lying about it during his campaign for office.
"I made a mistake," Adams said, adding that he has no plan to resign. "This was clearly an error. I clearly messed this one up. But it's an anomaly over the two decades I've served Portland."
"I have no plans to resign and this was a serious error on my part on my judgment that happened four years ago. (An error) in my personal life and my professional life. But in my job right now is to come clean - I mucked it up - and to press forward."
It was Adams' first public statement today in response to news reports that he had a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old in summer 2005 and, on the eve of his campaign for the city's highest office, lied about it and urged the young man to lie as well. Adams is expected to issue a public apology within minutes.
Adams said Monday that he made a mistake in not admitting the relationship when reporters first asked about it in September 2007. He did not describe the relationship itself as a mistake.
Adams, had been in D.C. attending a national mayors conference and the presidential inauguration when the reports broke. He flew back to Portland to apologize publicly and to deal with the situation.
Adams met Beau Breedlove in April 2005. Breedlove, then 17, was an intern at the Oregon Legislature for Rep. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer. Adams, 42 and a city of Portland commissioner, was in Salem on a lobbying trip. They struck up a conversation, and Breedlove called Adams soon after, hoping for both professional and personal advice on coming out of the closet in the political world.
1:22 p.m.
The crowd inside the Portland City Hall Rose Room is standing-room-only as reporters assemble to hear Portland Mayor Sam Adams' first public statement today in response to news reports that he had a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old in summer 2005 and, on the eve of his campaign for the city's highest office, lied about it and urged the young man to lie as well. Adams is expected to issue a public apology within minutes.
