PORTLAND, Ore. — Mayor Sam Adams said Sunday he will not resign despite calls for him to step down after admitting he lied about a sexual relationship with a teenager.
City Commissioner Randy Leonard told the Associated Press he had a phone message from Adams on Sunday morning saying he had decided to remain in office.
Two other commissioners told The Oregonian newspaper that Adams told them the same thing. The fourth, Amanda Fritz, declined comment.
Efforts to reach Adams were unsuccessful.
The newspaper has called for his resignation, along with three smaller Portland newspapers and the police union.
The scandal has resulted in an investigation by the Oregon attorney general and has divided the city and its gay and lesbian community, although Adams has found strong support to remain, including a Friday rally on his behalf at City Hall that drew more than 400 people.
Adams met separately with the four city commissioners on Saturday to privately discuss his political future just three weeks after being sworn in.
Earlier this week, Adams publicly apologized for lying about his sexual relationship with an 18-year-old man in 2005 as he began his campaign for mayor in 2007.
The teenager, Beau Breedlove, has said he did not have sex with the mayor until he was 18, even though they met when Breedlove was 17.
Breedlove, now 21, told The Oregonian on Saturday he had kissed Adams twice when he was 17 and welcomed the romantic interest, offering details that contradicted Adams’ claim that he told Breedlove he was not interested in a relationship at the time.
But Breedlove repeated his denial there was any sex before he was 18, and said the relationship was consensual and he considered himself an adult even before he turned 18.
“I do not see any relationship that I ever had with Sam as me being taken advantage of,” Breedlove told the newspaper. “I do not feel like I was ever a victim.”
Leonard said the City Council planned to meet Monday and Adams said in his message he planned to be there, but there was no indication of whether he would talk about the scandal.
Leonard has been in charge of the city as president of the City Council, and he told the AP he would like to get the issue resolved as soon as possible to make sure city business gets done.
“At a minimum, this is very distractive,” Leonard said.
Two of the leading business associations in Portland have taken a wait-and-see stance.
Steve Holwerda, Chairman of the Portland Business Alliance, said in a statement released Saturday the alliance board had differing views on whether Adams should resign but they agreed it was a critical time for the city and some of its major development projects.
“Whether or not he stays in office should be based on whether he can lead our city effectively and with the integrity that all our citizens deserve,” Holwerda said.
But the board of the Portland Area Business Association went further and said Adams should remain in office, but added, “pending the outcome of official investigation.”
Tony Green, spokesman for Oregon Attorney General John Kroger, declined comment Sunday on the investigation.
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