PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Four Portland newspapers and the city police union are calling on the mayor to resign, after he admitted he lied by denying he had a sexual relationship with a teenage boy.

Mayor Sam Adams 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, 45, said the teen was 17 when they met in 2005, and that the relationship did not turn sexual until the boy turned 18. He said he lied because he was afraid voters wouldn't believe that his young lover had turned 18 before they started having sex.

Adams became mayor on New Year's Day, making Portland the largest U.S. city with an openly gay mayor.

As newspapers called for him to step down, Oregon Attorney General John Kroger agreed to investigate whether a crime was committed.

Adams held a news conference Tuesday and was in seclusion Wednesday.

The publisher and editorial board of Just Out, a newspaper serves the gay and lesbian community, said in a statement that "Adams has failed to show the principled character that this publication feels is a basic requirement for an elected official."

The other papers calling on Adams to step down are the The Oregonian, The Portland Tribune and the Portland Business Journal.

Meanwhile, questions emerged about the mayor's hiring of a reporter from an alternate weekly, the Portland Mercury. The reporter, Amy Ruiz, 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.

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 Wednesday and joined the request for an investigation by the attorney general. They decided to withhold comment until that investigation was completed.

"This is clearly a distraction, but people need to know we are getting work done," Fish said.

Unless Adams bows to pressure and 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.

TBO.com - News From AP

You've gotta love Portland.... If you're a high-profile homosexual there, you are almost untouchable by the law. Back in the early '80s, there was big scandal involving homosexual counselors at centers in the Portland Metro area taking underage kids to thier homes for sexual encounters, often uder th guise of "let's find out if you really are gay". The case got buried by the Mayor at the time and centers and counselors got off scott-free (I have a "friend of a friend" who was a Portland Police captain at the time who was dead-center in the middle of this). Now, we've got the Mayor himself involved in what may very well be a criminal act of the same order. While he's claiming that the boy was 18, there's some pretty substantial doubts about the accuracy of that statement. But, since it's Portland, my guess is that nothing will come of it. The AG will investigate and the case will evaporate.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

Leftists and very small children don't seem to be able to understand that the Government isn't there to "fix" the economy, anymore than a tick is there to fix your dog.~Oftencold

Once again, the cover-up becomes greater than the crime...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

Is there any evidence that he actually broke a law?
Or is this a "guilty until proven innocent" situation, where a lack of proof of violation of age of consent laws doesn't matter?
"pretty substantial doubts" are all that's needed?


Yeah.
That was INCREDIBLY stupid of him.

Lacking any evidence on the sexual misconduct (Oregon's age of consent appears to be 18), the lie he did tell should still (IMO) be something he should be held accountable on.

__________________
"Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value."
Albert Einstein

And Mark Foley gets hammered by the Left for doing almost the exact same thing.

__________________
Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

Leftists and very small children don't seem to be able to understand that the Government isn't there to "fix" the economy, anymore than a tick is there to fix your dog.~Oftencold

I'm not convicting him of anything, but if there are accusations, then there should be an investigation (which there is). My doubts about how this whole case will be handled are about the influence of the Mayor's office in this investigation. Portland has a history of ignoring crimes which do not support it's resident liberal's political agenda and I think that this case will get a quick once over and then be tossed. I'll wait and see how this all turns out, but I'd put money on it the investigation coming to a quick and sudden end.

Also, Adams contact with this young man seems to have started before his 18th birthday. While not illegal, it's damn sure immoral to establish a relationship with the intent of an "18th birthday gift" being given.

__________________
Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

Leftists and very small children don't seem to be able to understand that the Government isn't there to "fix" the economy, anymore than a tick is there to fix your dog.~Oftencold

nope...

Foley did much less...

It's also such a shame we'll never know the party of this mayor...Apparently, they're having a hard time figuring it out...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

Mark Foley's case involved a 16-year old. Age DOES matter.


I thought the statement you made said "almost untouchable by the law".
The reality is that he is ENTIRELY touchable, an investigation is underway, and some people shouldn't jump to conclusions as to the outcome...


So we go from "almost untouchable by law" to "not illegal"...


How the heck do you justify this claim?
And is it just me or didn't this article open with "Four Portland newspapers and the city police union are calling on the mayor to resign..." One of them, a "gay" paper...

Let me guess. If the newspapers are criticizing a Democrat, it's assumed to be NOT the "liberal media"???

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"Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value."
Albert Einstein

If the mayor were female I shudder to think some people might be fine with this.

Anyhow, the guy is scum and once upon a time would have been shamed into resigning.

Old government guys screwing teenage interns just doesn't raise eyebrows like it used to, for some reason or another...

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Dudes ... you're just NOT THAT MUCH ****ING SMARTER than all of us. GET OVER YOURSELVES!
-- Me, to President Obama and the rest of his self-loving amateur staff.

There was no physical contact...Foley was accused of using WORDS...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

With someone below the age of consent. That much is proven. The same is not true with the Portland mayor.

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The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit the conquered Eastern peoples to have arms. History teaches that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by doing so.

-- Hitler, April 11 1942