This Week in the Mercury
Friday, January 23, 2009
City Hall / Media / Politics / Portland Linking Sam Adams
Posted by Matt Davis on Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 9:19 AM
A board member of the Mount Tabor Neighborhood Association:
Sam’s downfall is not about sex. It is about lying. We now know that he never sought to mentor the young man who became his sexual partner. That lie unraveled in front of the Oregonian editorial board. We know that people who had Sam’s best interests in mind warned him away from the boy.
The Buffalo news picks up the Associated Press on the Ruiz question:
Also hurting Adams are revelations that he hired a newspaper reporter who had earlier been looking into rumors that he had had sex with a minor. She now works for Adams as a planning and sustainability policy adviser.Adams insists he did not hire Amy Ruiz to keep her from looking into his past. And Ruiz says she was hired because of her experience in communications, which, she added, makes up most of her job.
"The allegations or insinuations that my reporting had anything to do with my hiring" are untrue, she told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Ruiz said she made a round of phone calls about the story in May but did not turn up any evidence of Adams' relationship with a young man named Beau Breedlove. Her editor decided against running a story.
OPB talks about the role of the media in policing its politicians:
Nigel Jaquiss: “This is not a story about sex, and it’s not a story about sexual preferences. The fact that Sam Adams is openly gay is really irrelevant to this story. This is a story about a politician who has lied, and who has then had to deal with that vulnerability.”...But not everyone’s praising Willamette Week’s diligence. New city commissioner Amanda Fritz questions whether the public is served by the story.
Submit your links in the comments, please.
1
Fritz needs to learn the important politician skill of keeping your head down until you see where the wind is blowing.
2
Here's a comment on the Tribune's article about his future "teetering on the edge":
"Re: Adams’ survival teeters on edge
Out here in Vernonia, Oregonia we have a saying..."when the going gets tough, and the road is full of potholes, and the sidewalks are crumbling, and the leaves are blocking the sewer drains, and there are rusty abandoned cars littering the main Piazza, and the crawdads have all died out because the e-coli bacteria in our drinking water has exceeded it's medicinal levels, and our trailers have flooded and our 2 dollar a square yd carpet is ruined, and the Goodwill has run out of toothpaste from China, we move the trailer to higher ground, level it with some 2X4's and ball jacks, run an extension to the neighbors house in the black of night, turn on the flat panel, crack open a beer, and watch the Portland local news for entertainment. Sam..the consensus in Vernonia, Oregonia we love you and want you and your crowd to hang in there. We have NEVER laughed so hard in all of our lives. You and your backbiting, vindictive little gang of buddy's are better than any sit-com rerun we tend to watch out here as we wait form the lumber industry to return...( where the trees will come from we haven't a clue)..but what else can we do?...become freeway flaggers in the Obama infrastructure federal fiscal stimulus plan? You hang in there..if only for the laughs. Get Vera to do a guest spot.
"Rick Etts, Vernonia, Oregonia"
"Re: Adams’ survival teeters on edge
Out here in Vernonia, Oregonia we have a saying..."when the going gets tough, and the road is full of potholes, and the sidewalks are crumbling, and the leaves are blocking the sewer drains, and there are rusty abandoned cars littering the main Piazza, and the crawdads have all died out because the e-coli bacteria in our drinking water has exceeded it's medicinal levels, and our trailers have flooded and our 2 dollar a square yd carpet is ruined, and the Goodwill has run out of toothpaste from China, we move the trailer to higher ground, level it with some 2X4's and ball jacks, run an extension to the neighbors house in the black of night, turn on the flat panel, crack open a beer, and watch the Portland local news for entertainment. Sam..the consensus in Vernonia, Oregonia we love you and want you and your crowd to hang in there. We have NEVER laughed so hard in all of our lives. You and your backbiting, vindictive little gang of buddy's are better than any sit-com rerun we tend to watch out here as we wait form the lumber industry to return...( where the trees will come from we haven't a clue)..but what else can we do?...become freeway flaggers in the Obama infrastructure federal fiscal stimulus plan? You hang in there..if only for the laughs. Get Vera to do a guest spot.
"Rick Etts, Vernonia, Oregonia"
4
I'm so tired of sex being such an issue with politics! Who cares who screwed who! There are plenty of 18-20 year olds who have sex with people in their 30's and 40's. It's no mystery that there's an attraction of comfort, knowledge, safety and experience. I'm in my late 30's and have dated several women that age briefly. I met them in social gatherings, had some conversations with them, and there was a mutual attraction that was sincere and consenual. I followed Dan Savage's campfire rule of leave them better off than you found them....and we're still friends to this day. Get over it and move on with the business of dealing with all the challenges we face right now!
5
RESIGNGATE! A letter calling on the Oregonian's editorial board to resign:
A call for the immediate resignation of the Oregonian Editorial Board: Now is the time
When the Oregonian Editorial Board can no longer thoughtfully lead the community it is time for the Board to resign en masse. New leadership and reasoned debate about political issues and news events is called for of the sort Robert Caldwell so piously promoted in his essay “ Civility in Public Discourse: Reasoned debate yes; hate, name calling , no, ” ( January 11, 2009). It isn’t civil to attempt to force an outcome.
Immediately after Sam Adams disclosure that he lied/covered up a fling with an 18 year old in 2005 with the preposterous name of Beau Breedlove ( a stage name I am guessing), the Oregonian called for Sam Adams resignation and, not having immediately achieved the hoped for public effect, again called for his resignation in today’s Editorial. Having led the mob, the Editorial Board said “Jump! You know you can’t survive this.”
It is indeed difficult to survive a mob led by the Oregonian but not impossible. After all the Oregonian generated the hysteria, tried the case in the press, caused the divisions and polarization, caused the Mayor to not show up at work to do the city’s business then said “Come on resign , you can’t do the City=E 2s work now”. Even the Pope knows his limitations. You do not.
A newspaper guided by journalistic ethics would have noted that the case is scheduled to be heard by Attorney General John Kroger, would have cautioned that in this country we are innocent until proven guilty, would have placed this incident into perspective noting that Sam Adams’ long, selfless and distinguished service to city (20 years), and called for calm, reason and permission for a legal process to move forward.
Perhaps you would have gone further and noted that this was a private matter, and that being gay in Oregon is still not accepted by the majority of citizens in the state. And most importantly you might have forged brave new ground with an Editorial opinion that perhaps love affairs and flings don’t merit consideration in the political arena at all. They don’t in other countries. You could have presented a fresh view not exploited an old one. Sam Adams lied about a private, not a public liaison in a country that continues for baffling reasons to preoccupy itself with the bedroom affairs of those in public office. It is disappointing that he lied. It is understandable why he lied. It is not a sin.
Indeed, Sam Adams can more than likely stand up to a hostile police union and engage in all other city business if the Oregonian Editorial didn’t continue to engage in every means possible to continue to disrupt that occurrence while abusing its journalistic position of power. In six months should the public believe differently then they can engage in a recall. It is not your business to drive an outcome. It is the people’s business. Perhaps Sam Adams can and will prove that this can be done. Perhaps he will be the first person in public office to survive the disclosure of a private affair, one that was covered up out of fear. One judges a person by the measure of his life not one incident.
This is not the first time the Oregonian Editorial Board has fomented hysteria then called for “Action!” based upon prejudice and poor factual investigation. The first rule of journalism should be, First, do no harm.
We need fresh leadership at the Oregonian Editorial Board, one reflective of this community’s values and diversity.
Sincerely,
Gail O’Connell-Babcock, Ph.D.
More...
A call for the immediate resignation of the Oregonian Editorial Board: Now is the time
When the Oregonian Editorial Board can no longer thoughtfully lead the community it is time for the Board to resign en masse. New leadership and reasoned debate about political issues and news events is called for of the sort Robert Caldwell so piously promoted in his essay “ Civility in Public Discourse: Reasoned debate yes; hate, name calling , no, ” ( January 11, 2009). It isn’t civil to attempt to force an outcome.
Immediately after Sam Adams disclosure that he lied/covered up a fling with an 18 year old in 2005 with the preposterous name of Beau Breedlove ( a stage name I am guessing), the Oregonian called for Sam Adams resignation and, not having immediately achieved the hoped for public effect, again called for his resignation in today’s Editorial. Having led the mob, the Editorial Board said “Jump! You know you can’t survive this.”
It is indeed difficult to survive a mob led by the Oregonian but not impossible. After all the Oregonian generated the hysteria, tried the case in the press, caused the divisions and polarization, caused the Mayor to not show up at work to do the city’s business then said “Come on resign , you can’t do the City=E 2s work now”. Even the Pope knows his limitations. You do not.
A newspaper guided by journalistic ethics would have noted that the case is scheduled to be heard by Attorney General John Kroger, would have cautioned that in this country we are innocent until proven guilty, would have placed this incident into perspective noting that Sam Adams’ long, selfless and distinguished service to city (20 years), and called for calm, reason and permission for a legal process to move forward.
Perhaps you would have gone further and noted that this was a private matter, and that being gay in Oregon is still not accepted by the majority of citizens in the state. And most importantly you might have forged brave new ground with an Editorial opinion that perhaps love affairs and flings don’t merit consideration in the political arena at all. They don’t in other countries. You could have presented a fresh view not exploited an old one. Sam Adams lied about a private, not a public liaison in a country that continues for baffling reasons to preoccupy itself with the bedroom affairs of those in public office. It is disappointing that he lied. It is understandable why he lied. It is not a sin.
Indeed, Sam Adams can more than likely stand up to a hostile police union and engage in all other city business if the Oregonian Editorial didn’t continue to engage in every means possible to continue to disrupt that occurrence while abusing its journalistic position of power. In six months should the public believe differently then they can engage in a recall. It is not your business to drive an outcome. It is the people’s business. Perhaps Sam Adams can and will prove that this can be done. Perhaps he will be the first person in public office to survive the disclosure of a private affair, one that was covered up out of fear. One judges a person by the measure of his life not one incident.
This is not the first time the Oregonian Editorial Board has fomented hysteria then called for “Action!” based upon prejudice and poor factual investigation. The first rule of journalism should be, First, do no harm.
We need fresh leadership at the Oregonian Editorial Board, one reflective of this community’s values and diversity.
Sincerely,
Gail O’Connell-Babcock, Ph.D.
6
Like I asked yesterday... Where are the journalistic ethics? The Oregonian isn't suited for wiping my ass. Just report the God damned story. Don't create a mob.
7
My friend told me yesterday that she went to high school with Beau Breedlove, and she didn't say anything about it being a stage name. She just said he got picked on for being gay.
8
"Is it ironic or merely logical that Van Sant began his career—one distinguished by a parade of young and beautiful boys—with, if not a defense, then at least a sympathetic portrait of an age-inappropriate crush? He once described Curtis’s story as “Death in Venice on Skid Row,” invoking the granddaddy of all chicken-hawk fables."
http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/576
http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/576
9
That commentator hit the nail on the head when writing, "It's not your (the Oregonian's Editorial Board) business to drive an outcome. It's the peoples' business."
Matt, is there a way for others to sign their name to Gail O'Connell-Babcock's well-written letter calling on the Editorial Boards' resignation?
Matt, is there a way for others to sign their name to Gail O'Connell-Babcock's well-written letter calling on the Editorial Boards' resignation?
10
Thank you, Dr. O'Connell-Babcock!
Matt, what do you think?
Is the Mercury swaying in the wind of public opinion on this, or do you all have a solid opinion? I can't tell. One minute it's insinuations that Dan Savage is following a double standard and the next it's jokes about the probing of the mayor. How 'bout the little paper that has the smudged reputation stand up for someone worth standing up for?
In Journalism School I was once told by a professor that the role of journalists isn't to pick sides in a fight, it's to sit up on the high ground on a high horse and then when the war is over, ride on down and shoot the wounded. I didn't buy that logic then, and I don't buy it now.
How about you and Humpy step up and pick a side?
Matt, what do you think?
Is the Mercury swaying in the wind of public opinion on this, or do you all have a solid opinion? I can't tell. One minute it's insinuations that Dan Savage is following a double standard and the next it's jokes about the probing of the mayor. How 'bout the little paper that has the smudged reputation stand up for someone worth standing up for?
In Journalism School I was once told by a professor that the role of journalists isn't to pick sides in a fight, it's to sit up on the high ground on a high horse and then when the war is over, ride on down and shoot the wounded. I didn't buy that logic then, and I don't buy it now.
How about you and Humpy step up and pick a side?
14
what bugs me is the arrogance and disregard for democracy that this man practices. He wanted power so much that he was willing to take it rather than earn it.
He lied on purpose to circumnavigate
the will of the people he wished to serve. If the voters knew what he was up to he would not have won. Knowing this, and believing that the voters should not actually be allowed to express themselves, he made certain, through deception that they would not have the opportunity to accept or reject him or his deeds. He is a fraud and a liar and worse, takes on the color of fascism.
Portland was (may no longer be) ready for a homosexual mayor. But for this man, such a stride was not enough, no.
He wanted Portland to have a mayor that he wanted them to have.
Sam didn't make any mistakes. No errors in judgment. Instead, he acted with great force and purpose out of an incredible amount of distorted ego and lust for the limelight.
Go away Sam. Besides, you ain't lookin' so good. Lay off the hot dogs and donuts.
He lied on purpose to circumnavigate
the will of the people he wished to serve. If the voters knew what he was up to he would not have won. Knowing this, and believing that the voters should not actually be allowed to express themselves, he made certain, through deception that they would not have the opportunity to accept or reject him or his deeds. He is a fraud and a liar and worse, takes on the color of fascism.
Portland was (may no longer be) ready for a homosexual mayor. But for this man, such a stride was not enough, no.
He wanted Portland to have a mayor that he wanted them to have.
Sam didn't make any mistakes. No errors in judgment. Instead, he acted with great force and purpose out of an incredible amount of distorted ego and lust for the limelight.
Go away Sam. Besides, you ain't lookin' so good. Lay off the hot dogs and donuts.
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