Sam, may we please see the official job description of a Sustainability and Planning advisor, and also a copy of a recent day's schedule of one Ms Ruiz?

To answer your question, no. But that's because I have faith in the PPB traffic division.

I don't know the answer to your question, but I do think that, in a perverse way, Sam loves all the attention he's getting now. He's the narcissistic captain leading the ship through a bitter storm of his own creation. As a narcissist, he really doesn't care about the damage he's doing to the city and its citizens. It's all about him.

And his paycheck.

One of the apparent duties of the former Mercury reporter was to attend the WW interview with Sam on this topic which indicates to me her job was hooked into this scandal. Either she was there in exchange for not pursuing the story, or just to help with the spin, but there is no way you can convince me she got the job because of her qualifications. She even admitted as much herself.

Sam said it was because of her smarts, and she says she never once thought there could be a connection between the Beau story and her getting hired. Oh yeah? That doesn't sound too smart to me.

Oh course, people will say a lot of things for 55 grand a year.

My guess is that Sam knew this was in the works and wanted someone who knew the participants in case he had to manage them through a crisis later.

There's my question: In her capacity as a Sustainability and Planning advisor, was she ever asked to check in with Beau Breedlove to make sure he was still in sync with Sam's story?

Maybe we can get Gary Blackmer to run against Mike Schrunk next time. Somebody worth the salary, anyway. We need to replace Schrunk with somebody who has a sense of smell.

As a narcissist, he really doesn't care about the damage he's doing to the city and its citizens.

Oh please, what damage is this doing to the city? The only damage I see is being inflicted by the New Morality Brigade, wanting to string up the mayor for a stupid affair with an 18 year old.

And his paycheck.

Which is why he won't be quitting. I can't see anyone in the private sector, even a foundation, touching him at this point. Unless someone comes forward to offer him another gig, he's not leaving.

a stupid affair with an 18 year old.

You keep trying to narrow it to that, but it isn't going to work. He also stole an election, slandered an opponent, urged others to lie to the media, and covered up the lies using the public payroll. For that he should go.

But in some people's eyes it doesn't matter that no one will ever trust him again, nor does he deserve such trust. He's gay, and that's enough for them.

You are right on the money Jack.
This is all about lies and money and ego.
Sam is just another version of the gov of Illinois.

Jack, I trust you've seen this from the Trib?

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=123258051828980400

Thomas Lauderdale says, "We are happy to report tonight that Sam Adams is regaining his confidence and is determined to stay in office."

Which lends support to my vote of "Never." on the poll.

And so we will have a recall. Creepy can collect his paycheck for nine months, and nothing will get done in the meantime. That's what you get when you elect a person like that.

"a stupid affair with an 18 year old"

One of the problems is that BB didn't think it was a "stupid affair." Someone, a friend I think, said that BB just wanted the affair to be made public, instead of a secret. It must have been very painful and confusing for him to be asked to hide the relationship and, on top of that, to be asked to lie about it.

Re: Bill McDonald above

I'm sorry, I've having a hard time believing people can be "bought" for 55K a year.

Which says volumes about the lousy salaries in Portland.

I personally think that Ruiz was just trying to cover the cost of living in this town. Most journalists (outside of the very well-paid O staffers) in this town eventually end up in a PR job just to cover their mortgages.

You keep trying to narrow it to that, but it isn't going to work.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one, Jack. I honestly think that most of the people coming out of the woodwork to bash Sam are doing so because he's a gay man, and all the other stuff is window dressing to give themselves cover. Not saying this about all his critics, but most of them.

slandered an opponent

Jack, you play a lawyer on this blog. Slander is a crime, isn't it? (Well, at least a tort case - you could represent Bob Ball!) If you've got the goods on Sam, then case closed.

Most journalists (outside of the very well-paid O staffers) in this town eventually end up in a PR job just to cover their mortgages.

This isn't a PR job; she's a "Sustainability and Planning Advisor."

The Ptld Police would do the same thing they used to do for Frank Invance, or for Bud Clarks kid - they would just take him home.
This situation is much bigger - thats why Sam is going to have to find a NEW home.

"I honestly think that most of the people coming out of the woodwork to bash Sam are doing so because he's a gay man... "

Of course homophobic people are going to use this to their advantage and spew their hate, but if you think most of the people bashing Sam are homophobic, how do you explain the large margin of victory he held in the mayoral election?

My workplace is a hotbed of progressive liberals (meaning who you have sex with is your own business) and almost to a person people are bothered by the lying, just what Jack said, "He also stole an election, slandered an opponent, urged others to lie to the media, and covered up the lies using the public payroll."

Regarding the Ruiz angle: many are going out of their way to say there's nothing there. However, the mere fact that candidate selection was done on the basis of Ruiz' and two other fifteen minute interviews shows that the screening for this position was done for the appearance of propriety. (The job had to be "open to all applicants," and more than one person had to be "considered.") The adherence to standard practice is slight, purely technical, and obviously motivated toward getting her into a position no matter who might have been qualified, and it's further obvious that other applicants didn't actually have a fair chance, just the carelessly constructed appearance of one.

Given that by Amy Ruiz' description of events -- the job was posted a few days after a conversation she had with the head of staff, she applied right away, after which she and two other candidates were interviewed for a mere fifteen minutes -- it is crystal clear to anyone in the HR field (or anyone who's had to look for work, for that matter) that the job was created for her to be hired for it. I don't even need to get an answer as to why. If they could decide she was better than anyone else in fifteen minutes, then let's look at others hired for positions similar to that level in the City of Portland. Are the interviews fifteen minutes with one person, or are they, like all of us have experienced, more like an hour or several hours, with several people present?

I ask ya.

I think that statutory rape will be the least of Sam's legal problems and that the AG will be looking at other crimes, specifically Fraud as it relates to election laws. He has already admitted to this in public. He appears to be open to civil action for slander, but since he probably used his CoP computer and position as councilor to do so it probably rises to the level of another crime.

I'm not a lawyer, but this scenario seems to resemble the cases of Skilling and Lay at Enron a lot more than the sex scandals that his supporters would believe. Sam was lying for his own personal benefit. Repeatedly and in several public forums. Under the concept of "Good Governance" Skilling and Lay were convicted of fraud for lying publicly about the health of Enron when they knew otherwise and thus violated their fiduciary duty to the shareholders. Mr Skilling is now doing more than 20 years at a federal prison in Minnesota.

It would seem that Sam should have at least that level of responsibility to tell the truth as city councilor and as a candidate for public office.

I'm curious if any of the great legal minds who read this blog agree with this analogy.

Writing this from Houston, Texas (as a former Portland resident who is GLAD to have escaped) - all I can say is that you people got in Sam Adams what you deserved / voted for.

Anyone with a brain can ask the simple question about the fiscal abilities of a guy who has two personal bankruptcies on his record - and how this qualifies him to run and guide the spending policies of a medium-sized city.

Running against a proven business leader with a decades-long track record of doing good in the community?

And Portland chose Sam Adams?

And I see the normal Portland libs trying to change the subject from the lying/public trust situation into a sex/gay/hate scandal. And keep him in office.

C'mon folks, once you breach the public trust with lies & vehemently smear your opponents, and coerce others into lying for you, it's irreparable. You are damaged goods. No if's, and's or but's.

It's amazing how much better-run and -governed Texas is than Oregon. Nation-leading education system; business-friendly policies; nation-leading unemployment rates; well-maintained infrastructure; no spending boondoggles; great work ethic; ACTUAL enforcement of immigration laws; requirement to show U.S. BIRTH CERTIFICATE to get a driver's license; lower real-estate costs; better weather; the list goes on.

Guess that's what you get with a Republican-led state, currently with the highest influx of people from other states. Even the Oregonian's recent economic comparison study of mid-sized cities rated Austin highest in the nation - well ahead of Portland & the other cities included.

tomato, tomahto

I was using PR in a very wide sense -- there are plenty of PDX governmental advisory jobs that are all about gathering information, synthesizing it and presenting it to the "principal" who then decides what to do about it.

That's what PR folks do. Call it what you want -- it's a PR job. Or journalism, when the "principal" is the public.

And if you're single, 55K will barely cover an apartment payment in a decent area of town. Forget about buying a house, even if the median housing price has dropped from a high of over $300,000.

As for bashing Sam because he's gay, give me a break. I think most of us in this town are past that.

This is not a straight vs. gay issue. Playing around with teenagers when you're over 40 is a judgment issue for ALL sexual orientations.

And if you're single, 55K will barely cover an apartment payment in a
decent area of town.

It's way more than she made at the Portland Mercury, that's for sure.

Well, I voted for Sam for mayor because I thought he had the experience and skills to do the job. I still believe he has the experience and skills for the job, but not the character. So I voted for him to resign in the poll on this blog.

We just got rid of W. For eight plus years I tuned W out, and Cheney, too. I couldn't listen to them speak for more than a 20-second sound bite, or even read their words on paper or the internet. The outright lies, the disingenuousness, the manipulations were too much.

Even if Adams survives the scandal and continues as mayor, I'll be tuning him out for the rest of his term because he's lied, manipulated and been disingenuous. He's lost credibility with me and also my confidence. A lot of other Portlanders who do not care about sexual orientation seem to be thinking the same way. Unfortunately the homophobes have also been very vocal and critical about the matter. But I think they are in the minority, not the majority.

And if you're single, 55K will barely cover an apartment payment in a decent area of town.

That's patently false, unless you think the Pearl is the only "decent area" in Portland.

You would be suprised by the number of people I've ran into since this story broke that did not know Sam is gay. His being gay doesn't bother them either, it's his actions that disgust them.

I'm with Bill McDonald on this one. I seriously doubt SCAM ADAMS (appropriate name for him) will likely NOT resign. Just for starters, he hasn't had a job outside of government for well over a decade. And given this scandal, who would hire this liar anyway?

According to someone I know who has experience around City Hall, the fact Ruiz is 1)woman 2) Hispanic is enough to get her hired. That is profile they seek. Those applicants go to top of the pile all in name of diversity. All the better if disabled.
So whether she got job based on above alone or to make her hush up about Sam, it's wrong, wrong, wrong.
That's progressive politics for you.

there is no way you can convince me she got the job because of her qualifications. She even admitted as much herself.

Which begs the question...how many honestly qualified people were pushed aside to give her the job?

Sustainability and Planning is a bogus job anyway so there are no skills required to perform that job. With a stupid title like that the job could be in charge of providing young boys for Sam. It would take some planning skills to provide Sam with a sustainable crop of young boys so I believe that would fulfill the duties of the job title.

I have to hand it to you, Jack. On September 10, 2007 you wrote that, "Now that Grampy's giving up being mayor of Portland to pursue other interests, and Sam the Tram is ready to scootch on over and lead the city to a collective nervous breakdown...".

You hit the nail right on the head. I also find it amazing that the breakdown occurred within the first three weeks of Adams' becoming mayor.

"I honestly think that most of the people coming out of the woodwork to bash Sam are doing so because he's a gay man"

So you are saying that if he was heterosexual with the same context to events this would have just gone away?

Sam is just another version of the gov of Illinois.

Mayor Samboyevich!