Portland mayor admits relationship with 18-year-old

Whoops. Nice way to kick off your administration.

The mayor of Portland, Oregon, publicly apologized Tuesday for lying about a sexual relationship he had with an 18-year-old male in 2005, and for asking the teen to lie about it. “I want to apologize to the people of Portland for my dishonesty and for embarrassing them,” Mayor Sam Adams said at an afternoon news conference. But the mayor — who is openly gay and whose election last year possibly made Portland the largest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor — said he has no plans to resign. – From CNN

The mayor of Portland apologized Tuesday for lying about a sexual relationship with a male teenager he was mentoring three years ago, but asked the city to consider it an anomaly in two decades of public service. “I screwed up. I blew it. There’s no way to sugarcoat it,” Mayor Sam Adams said during a City Hall news conference scheduled after he cut short a trip to the presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. Adams was elected easily last year, making Portland the largest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor. He was sworn in Jan. 1. – From Huffington Post

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. – From Oregon Live