The head of the city’s powerful 900-member police union today called on Mayor Sam Adams to resign immediately after Adams admitted on Monday he lied about having sex with an 18-year-old intern.
Sgt. Scott Westerman, president of the Portland Police Association, tells WW that Adams’ admitted coverup of the 2005 affair with Beau Breedlove revealed “a dramatic lack of integrity.”
“What would happen if a police officer befriended a 17-year-old cadet, or a high-school girl, and waited until the second she turned 18 to nail her?” Westerman says. “This is the mayor of our city. This is supposed to be the person who dictates the culture.”
Westerman brought up the example of former Police Chief Derrick Foxworth, who was demoted in 2006 for pursuing an affair with a subordinate.
“[Foxworth] didn’t even lie about his relationship but was deemed by the mayor and City Council not to be worthy to lead any longer,” Westerman says.
“How can we as a police union accept a person who addressed the entire city of Portland, demanding that we believe him, demanding that we accept the fact that he didn’t do anything inappropriate?” Westerman said. “That’s not a city I want to work for. I sure as hell don’t think our cops should have that ability, do you?”
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Tags: beau breedlove, Sam Adams
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I can’t really see much difference between this and the female officer who lost her job because she lied about the nature of some sort of surgery. Unfortunately instead of a review board, Adams will force us to recall him, which we will of course, spending lots of money in the process. Yes, the word integrity and the lack of it, is most appropriate.
He lied about it.
Martha Stewart went to jail for lying,
scotter Libby went to jail for lying.
Bill Clinton was impeached for lying.
If he lied about having sex with an 18 y/o, he surely will lie about sex with a 17y/o
This is nuts! He had a consenual sexual relationship with another adult. Why are we even talking about it? He shouldn’t have even been asked about it during the campaign by reporters. It’s his private life.
The big deal is simple. He could have refused to answer the questions, instead he choose to lie. It was a moral and ethical choice, that no one forced upon him. In doing so he assassinated the character of somebody who was, it appears, being truthful. Then he suborns the kid to lie for him. And then he hires the reporter who original brought this whole thing to the publics attention, for a 50K city job in which she as absolutely no qualifications and other candidates did, to apparently get her off his back? And you don’t see a big deal about this? Jesus!
Thanks for you well informed Comment. You really put the light on something Sam Arranged for a Position to Someone, who had no qualifications….something stinks in Chicago Too!…Now Portland.
Man..You are so Right ON….Thanks for your Comment!
So was Breedlove a City of Portland intern or Adams’ campaign intern? Calling Breedlove an "intern" is confusing.
I thought WW reported Breedlove was a "legislative intern" for a state legislator unassociated with Adams’ office or the city.
If Breedlove was not employed or volunteer as Adams’ subordinate, than the Westerman’s Foxworth argument is bogus.
I agree with Theresa. This was consensual sex between two adults. What the hell is the big deal?
A 42 year old meets a 17 year old, "waits until he is 18" before having sex with him, then lies about it. This is ethically and morally bankrupt behavior in the eyes of most people, even in Portland. Calling this situation "consensual sex between consenting adults" is a terrible whitewash of what really happened here. This is absolutely unacceptable behavior and grounds for immediate dismissal in most professions. Adams should try to at least reclaim a modicum of dignity and resign for the good of the city.
So was Bill & Monicas relationship. It shows a staggering amount of poor judgement and whats worse is he lied!
We deserve better.
This is what Sam Adams calls, "mentoring." I ask, mentoring in what?
SCAM Adams Must GO
Maybe our Mayor thought the news of his admission of lying, and persuading others to lie on his behalf, would have been buried under all the positive news on this wonderful day. Instead, Sam’s admission, on the most historic Inaugural Day in a century, sets him in stark contrast to a great ethical leader like President Obama.
Ethical leader like President Obama? Obviously you have not read much about the man. Do some google searches and read about how he got his start in politics and how he was able to run for almost every office, with the exception of this last one, unopposed. I think you will find that Obama’s ethics are quite suspect.
Yes. We need the police union to lecture us about integrity when they are fighting against the scrutiny of officer review boards. Shenanigans!
I am choking over this and can barely write. There are people like me who VOTED for this scumbag only to find that he has been elected under false pretenses. How dare he violate our trust like this? We are DONE with these kinds of politicians. Let them ALL walk the plank, NOW.
Sounds like the police are hungry again for the power of the mayor’s portfolio, and could give a hoot about integrity.
This is an unfortunate development but a couple things seem clear:
a) Sam Adams is no sexual predator (Beau’s all boyfriends are in the same age range as Sam; by all accounts, it was Beau who courted Sam, not the other way around);
b) the story was made public by a bunch of jealous ex-boyfriends of both Beau and Sam (it should have remained private, as no law was violated);
c) the story has triggered a hypocritical and homophobic outrage among the public (who would expect otherwise);
d) Sam should have foreseen all of the above.
Exactly. Obviously he did foresee all of the above, which was why he was forced to lie about it.
The outrage is NOT homophobic – it’s about lying and abuse of power by our mayor. Many of us donated time and money to elect someone who deceived us, abused our trust, and ruined another person’s reputation with his lies. Sam has no integrity – he has no right to be our mayor.
Sam Adams misled the people of Portland and should resign. Let us hope that all those who propose "change" in politics are not wolves in sheeps clothing.
I am very much in agreement with Andrew, however on this day of celebration, I am stunned to find myself so terribly sad. As a passionate and staunch supporter of Adams during the election process, I defended, supported and argued with many as to why this man deserved to be our new Mayor. As a gay man, the pride I felt upon his huge ground breaking victory was a moving experience for me. On this day of Obama, I find myself thinking of little else other than Adams and for all the wrong reasons. I am sad for Portland and even sadder for the gay community and the setback this will cause. I’m also sad for Sam, a man who has spent his whole life working for this city to get where he has gotten and now he has possibly thrown his life’s work down the drain and for what? I am also sad for myself. My faith and pride in him has been crushed. My mind has been racing with thoughts about how this can be resolved without losing this dedicated man as our Mayor, but I must admit to being at a loss, though it is too soon to make decisions of that magnitude. Silly as it may sound, this feels very personal and I am utterly heartbroken. Sam, what have you done?!
Honestly I couldn’t care who slept with whom, so long as no laws were broken. Government should stay out of the bedrooms of the citizens, and even politicians have some right to privacy. If this doesn’t effect his ability to govern, I don’t give a flying fuck who he nailed.
When Sam lied no one died.
Fvck off, Portland cops.
Would you want the person, who spends your Tax Dollar lie on the projects he approves? And Hire People who are not Qualified to take Our Hard Earned Tax Dollars….Dude….Wake UP….Maybe I should say….Bitch….Wake UP…Sorry
So Sam tells a lie and covers it up. Then when his story starts to unravel, he comes clean. As with Mr. Clinton, I really could care less about the actual deed, I am more interested in the personal morals of the man. Sam has now proven that he can tell a lie and he can convince others to backup his story. So what happens when the City Counsel backs up his lies to the voters? I hope he takes the offer and resigns as quickly as possible. Portland does not need to have this kind of politician running the city. Portland needs a honest person with the highest level of integrity.
Yes Westerman, you make good points, and I agree with you. This is about leadership and setting examples for others to follow, Adams is discusting and if this is leadership and a good example, then this City has really sold out all of its moral values, we need to get our moral values and leadership of City Hall back into focus. Mr Adams, You really do not deserve to Mayor of this City, You need to resign NOW!!, Do us all a favor and do the right thing, resign and you will show us that you have some morals and you do it for the betterment of the City and not just for yourself
wasstan
"I can’t really see much difference between this and the female officer who lost her job because she lied about the nature of some sort of surgery. Unfortunately instead of a review board, Adams will force us to recall him, which we will of course, spending lots of money in the process. Yes, the word integrity and the lack of it, is most appropriate."
There is a very big differance between Someone lieing about thier abillity to work which is what I assume you are refering to and lieing about something which was NO ONES business in the first place so far as I have read at this point there is not one shred of evidence that Sam and the young Mr.Breedlove had sexual relations before the young man was of an age to decide about entering into sexual relations with another adult nor was San ever Mr.Breedlove’s boss and Mr.Breedlove has not claimed any kind of sexual harrasment. Were that the story yes it would be most troubling. Just a bit of information about my own experiance with this so much in concern enormass age differance. I met my current partner with whome I am very much still in love at the callow age of 2i he was 41 I am now 50 just incase you can not do the math that meens we have been together for 28 wonderfull years few hetrosexual relationships last so long. This is nothing more than a double standard period Shame on everyone on this great day when Dr.Kings dream has so clearly been fullfilled for all races in this country. Most obviously we still have a long ways to go as regards peoples sexual orientation
Vancouverian
"He lied about it". So what?
"Martha Stewart went to jail for lying", To an oficer of the court yes for what is called perjury lieing under oath. Did I miss something was Sam under oath?
"scotter Libby went to jail for lying". Same as above.
"Bill Clinton was impeached for lying". Yes he was impeached=acussed/indited by the house while it was under control of the opisition. He was also NOT found guilty of any offences for which he could be removed from office.
"If he lied about having sex with an 18 y/o, he surely will lie about sex with a 17y/o" However this is not about sex with someone underage Were it he would be facing charges in court as would be most welcome and appropraite if it were the case.
rolandson
"The big deal is simple. He could have refused to answer the questions, instead he choose to lie. It was a moral and ethical choice, that no one forced upon him". Oh no! no one forced it upon him not in the least a crock self evident because of this foolish fire storm. "In doing so he assassinated the character of somebody who was, it appears, being truthful." Babbiling accusations in such a way as to suggest illegality. "Then he suborns the kid to lie for him." Yes it truely looks as if he twisted Mr.Breedlove’s arm off. "And then he hires the reporter who original brought this whole thing to the publics attention, for a 50K city job in which she as absolutely no qualifications and other candidates did, to apparently get her off his back?" Sounds to me as if you are acussing Sam of a payoff this not only smears him unless you can prove that the job was a payoff but smears the reporter’s ethics & professionalism as well. "And you don’t see a big deal about this?" In a word NO I do not unless there is conciderably more proof that a payoff was intened or made.
here nor there
"A 42 year old meets a 17 year old," and gives a youth the encouragment he needs to come to terms with his sexuality and how he might break this news to his famaily a process which often is frought with difficuilities which can irevocably damage all the young persons relationships in his famaily. "and "waits until he is 18" before having sex with him," So are you saying he souuld have banged him the moment they meet that would surely have confermed your predjudices. "then lies about it". YES to protect both himself and the young man from vitriol such as yours. "This is ethically and morally bankrupt behavior in the eyes of most people, even in Portland". Most comments I have seen so far actually center around Sam’s having lied about something that should NOT have even been a topic of public discussion. "Calling this situation ""consensual sex between consenting adults" is a terrible whitewash of what really happened here. This is absolutely unacceptable behavior and grounds for immediate dismissal in most professions". How so and for why? "Adams should try to at least reclaim a modicum of dignity and resign for the good of the city". What should happen for the good of the city is for biggots like you to either leave from amoungst our midist or at the very least keep your foul mouths shut.
BigPoet
"This is what Sam Adams calls, "mentoring." I ask, mentoring in what?" See above paragraph.
gaye harris
"I am choking over this and can barely write. There are people like me who VOTED for this scumbag only to find that he has been elected under false pretenses. How dare he violate our trust like this? We are DONE with these kinds of politicians. Let them ALL walk the plank, NOW." Oh please if the privacy invading questions had not been asked in the first place there would not have been any lie and if Sam were hetrosexual there would not even have been a story if there was actually no sexual contact before the youth in question was of age.
Andrew
"This is an unfortunate development but a couple things seem clear:
a) Sam Adams is no sexual predator (Beau’s all boyfriends are in the same age range as Sam; by all accounts, it was Beau who courted Sam, not the other way around);" No shit Dick Tracy.
"b) the story was made public by a bunch of jealous ex-boyfriends of both Beau and Sam (it should have remained private, as no law was violated);" Oh No an intelengant responce what ever could the world be coming to?
"c) the story has triggered a hypocritical and homophobic outrage among the public (who would expect otherwise);" No one with an ounce of horse sence!
"d) Sam should have foreseen all of the above" I am sure he did small wonder why he lied in the first place?
PDXrocks
"The outrage is NOT homophobic" Equine dung! – "it’s about lying and abuse of power by our mayor". This stalking horse can NOT walk and never will. "Many of us donated time and money to elect someone who deceived us, abused our trust," About a totally private mater which never had any buisness in the public domain in the first place. "and ruined another person’s reputation with his lies. Sam has no integrity" Oh really so gossiping against a politcal rival is high integrity? My what an interesting point of view you have. – "he has no right to be our mayor." Be seriouse.
Bill Bayard
"As a gay man, the pride I felt upon his huge ground breaking victory was a moving experience for me." As it should have been and should still be. On this day of Obama, I find myself thinking of little else other than Adams and for all the wrong reasons." if this country was as far along with support for civil rights for sexual minorities as it has proven it’s self to be on race you you would have no reason to be so concerend. "I am sad for Portland and even sadder for the gay community and the setback this will cause." A setbback that will only occure if you do not get up on our high horse & confrtont it directlly. "I’m also sad for Sam, a man who has spent his whole life working for this city to get where he has gotten and now he has possibly thrown his life’s work down the drain and for what?" It was not Sam who through it down the drain but if we allow those who did so to get away with it we will all have reason to feel profound sadness. "I am also sad for myself." Don’t be sad but rather get MAD as hell as I am." My faith and pride in him has been crushed. My mind has been racing with thoughts about how this can be resolved without losing this dedicated man as our Mayor, but I must admit to being at a loss, though it is too soon to make decisions of that magnitude. Silly as it may sound, this feels very personal and I am utterly heartbroken. "Sam, what have you done?!" Not a bloody thing he should have apologized for doing so is giving in to the very worst type of homophobia.
"He lied about it". So what?
That is all you need to say, put your hands on your ears and say LALALALALALA.
if your partner met somebody else
and lied about it to you, what is your reaction to the lie?
EWWWW-SO DISGUSTING! Portland and the whole state of washington is becoming just like Sodham I mean San Fran.
better that hetero-normative sex where guys make their wives bend over and violently fuck them in the ass.
Let’s face reality – there’s not just a double standard, there’s multiple standards and elected leadership has always been held to a much looser standard than the rest of us – particularly once they’re elected! Sam knew that and he temporarily dodged the bullet. Who wouldn’t if they could? He’s still got the chops to do the job, he’s clearly remorseful, he didn’t do it ‘on the job’ (just to GET the job), he’s apparently done nothing illegal, and thus it really wasn’t any of our business to begin with. Get over it and get on with it.
The trouble here is that I believed that Sam was being defamed…he had me convinced that the accusations were nothing more than a smear campaign…who in their right mind would engage in such activity on the run-up of a mayoral campaign? It was so absurd to read it had to be false…unfortunately that was not the case. As was pointed out above :
"b) the story was made public by a bunch of jealous ex-boyfriends of both Beau and Sam (it should have remained private, as no law was violated);"
This was a vendetta carried out by his exes……..all fair in…
Oh please! The Portland Police are the last, last people on this earth who can take the moral high road. Just ask all those people they murdered.
I’ve never been more disappointed in this city. Portlanders are so quick to burn him a the stake for a consensual relationship with a man of legal age. The only issue is that he lied about it, but who cares about his personal life? I don’t, as long as he’s participating in legal activities (which he was) that do not affect his role in public office (which it doesn’t.) Shame on the Willamette Week for blowing this story so out of proportion that we’re in danger of losing the man who has worked tirelessly for this city and it’s people.
Everyone agree’s Sam Adams is a liar, thats clear. Why are we supposed to accept the fact that he waited until this kid turned 18 to have sex with him? He already lied and tried to cover it up. If you are comfortable with a pedophile as mayor then just say so but please stop yammering about how the kid was 18, no one knows this for sure.
Oh please- The Portland Police Union president has a point and if you read what this guy said it makes sense. Sam can’t lead a city and expect employees to have a sense of ethics when he is morally bankrupt. Foxworth didn’t lie and got fired..I happen to agree with his dismissal but he didn’t lie!! Sam has got to go and cudos to the WW for having the guts to follow through with this story.
sam adams is a LIAR, and a sexual predator. why would anyone want him to be mayor of portland?
he needs to resign.
First off Cop man, there is a different power dynamic between an old man and a young girl at the job than there is a man and a younger man. Second off, you all want to persecute him because he was having hot sex with another guy. Let the witch hunts begin you fake "progressive" fucking obama lovers (just so you can relieve some white guilt).