portland mayor, sam adams, reels from sex scandal

with all eyes on the inaugural bread & circus, this little buzzkill sneaks in & reminds us that politicians will always lie if they think they can get away with it... staytuned

from oregonian: Portland Mayor Sam Adams is expected to make his 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. Wade Nkrumah, the mayor's spokesman, said Adams plans to issue a public apology at 1:30 p.m. today in the Rose Room at Portland City Hall. 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. "I should have been honest about what happened, but I was not," he told The Oregonian from Washington, D.C., where he is attending a national mayors conference and the presidential inauguration. "I apologize."

update1: adams stays home as support crumbles
from oregonian: Mayor Sam Adams holed up in his North Portland house Wednesday, making phone calls and apologizing, but every sign - from eroding support among gay and lesbian leaders to the deafening silence from Adams' political mentors to his own tone of voice -- signaled resignation. "I've been involved in Oregon politics for a long time, and I obviously understand people's anger and frustration," Adams said Wednesday. His somber tone was striking in contrast to the firm determination to stay in office he expressed earlier this week... On Wednesday, The Oregonian, the Portland Tribune, the Portland Business Journal and Just Out, a Portland-based news magazine covering gays and lesbians, all called for his resignation. That last publication may not be a household name to many Oregonians, but its condemnation is a particularly bitter and significant blow for Adams, the first openly gay mayor of a top-40 U.S. city.