They dug out a frowny face photo of the mayor.

This is about the girls. The boys are just down his hall in the mens bathroom.

Nice to see that the mayor has come out against sex with minors. Not sure that he's exactly the best person to be making that case.

I love the part about "biking down 82nd" in the old days. The only people biking down 82nd are drug dealers.

This is the real howler:

That imperfect data doesn't justify inaction.

It reminds me of when Sam the Mentor told us that tweeting wrong information is more important that getting the right story.

I'm no fan of the mayor, but some subjects transcend the person and this is one of them. Child prostitution is pure evil. And it is happening in our community. All of you shooting the messenger on this one need to take a head check.

Onion headline, or Portland Oregon?

"Mayor: Hey! My city does TOO have a horrible prostitution problem!"

All of you shooting the messenger on this one need to take a head check.

Sexual exploitation of children is despicable.

Which is why Sam Adams ought to be in jail.

This is not new, and for Sam to wake up finally and see what is going on is pathetic. He should have looked at the issue months ago. That doesn't excuse the other in city hall who have overlooked it. But Jack is right.

Once this got on the national news, pols like Wyden and Adams have jumped up and are trying to get mileage out of it. With Adams, it's just... well, creepy.

saxaboom,

I think that everyone here absolutely agrees with you that the exploitation of children by adults is a horrific act, that sadly, is all to common in our society.

Unfortunately, because of the current Mayor's own willful and deliberate actions, he lacks the respect and political capital to truly help children who need our help the most.

If he cared so much? Why has he not taken the time to travel down to Salem, Oregon to present his facts and express his concerns to the legislature?

Most of us all know that the whole 'Portland teensex hub' was a political diversion dreamed up by Mark Weiner to make Dan Satzman appear human. The only thing sadder is that these kids are getting 'screwed' (just in a different way) by politicians who only see them as a pawn to them to being re-elected in 2012.

Like I said, the humor is only there because most of us are appalled by the reality of the situation that in 2013 ( weather or not Sam is Mayor) he knows that he will be able to ride his bicycle down 82nd and find teen prostitutes.

C'mon, a consensual relationship with a 17 year old male or female is not legal, but is not even on the same spectrum as what is happening out there.

Calling it exploitation of a child in this context, and making this all about the mayor is pretty darn classy. I'm sure the families of these girls really appreciate your shining a light on this obscure tragedy at city hall.

(And from what I remember, both parties attested that no hanky-panky occurred until the guy was 18. Definitely not good, but if true, it wasn't even not legal.)

There was admittedly a bathroom tongue kiss at age 17, and much grooming before then. A $300 cash payoff (at least) to the victim. Said kiss and payoff executed in City Hall. And a history of lying through his teeth about many other aspects of the "relationship," so you can decide whether to believe the denials.

What is Adams complaining about? This is all about jobs. And if you apply the same formulas that economists typically use, including the "multiplier effect," then what's happening on 82nd Avenue is probably creating and/or maintaining more FTE (full-time equivalent) jobs than anything that city hall is doing with taxpayer subsidies.

And if you shut down what's happening on 82nd Avenue, then all of that activity will simply shift to other cities, which is what economists call "leakage."

And Adams certainly doesn't want leakage.

I vaguely remember that the last time I heard a news story about the staffer, it didn't seem like he was doing any favors for the mayor with his public comments. Keeping quiet on the lawbreaking in order to become a hundredaire.. Seems a couple orders of magnitude cheap, no? After all this time? Your suggestion that there is actually more money notwithstanding.

I think if it was someone in the same position with an eighteen year-old girl, it'd have led to accusations of being a dirty ol' womanizer but not some kind of sex offender. Some people even go further and call the guy a pedophile, which would be entirely unfounded. A quick Google search shows you've preserved those comments time after time. I know you delete comments you don't want here because you've done it to me.

I can only imagine a majority of people must agree, or he wouldn't have survived two strong recall attempts.

But I wasn't even sure if the guy had perhaps rescinded the confirmation or not, and assumed the worst in my first comment above. The point stands, I think.

He survived a recall drive, and he didn't get indicted. What wonderful achievements.

He's got colossal nerve making himself out to be the defender of children against sexual exploitation. The fact that the money in town is still behind him -- or at least not so set against him that they wouldn't fund the amateur recalls -- doesn't make him any less of a pathological liar. Or an embarrassment to the whole city.

Cash payments to the victim of an alleged crime are as corrupt as it gets. "It was a loan" -- sure. What a lying sack.

But Portland has plenty of people like Aaron, and so creeps like Adams run the place. Nice chatting with you, son. Good luck finding a job.

'My eyes flow and do not cease, without interruption, til the Lord in heaven looks down and sees. My eyes bring suffering to my soul because of all the daughters of my city'

Lamentaions 3: 49-51

This whole thing reminds me of Haley Barbour, what, 3 weeks ago...

One only needs face to face contact with Sam for a few moments to see how he is constantly weaving lies. When Sam's attorneys are dispatched to Beau's home at midnight just before the Jan. 20 2009 news conference to threaten Breedlove into signing a false affidavit- it doesn't take a Rhodes scholar to piece this one together.

Sam's need to overly publize this type of crime, is a mere attempt to deflect any attention away from him for reelection purposes. Look over here- see that's so much worse than my love affair with a vulnerable starry-eyed teenager.

The boys and girls forced into prostitution need social rehabilitation services- help to build self esteem and the stregth and understanding to imagine a different life. Beau has to struggle to find love for oneself after the mayor very publicly made him out to be the bad guy. Beau's a kid whose experience with Sam led him to a couple of bad choices after Sam was done with him. He is taking responsibility for that as a young man- more than I have ever seen from our Mayor.

Sam has shown he has no leadership qualities. The first one being the ability to admit when you're wrong and make ammends. Until then, Sam has no credibility on this issue- or any issue facing our City.

"Not sure that he's exactly the best person to be making that case."

They couldn't get Neil to write the op-ed piece, so they settled for Sam. Portland has history y'know.

To paraprhase Sammy re: Derrick Foxworth - "When you become the butt of jokes you should go"

Sam's still a sociopath.

"But Jack is right."

Of course he is right. How can he be wrong? How can ANYBODY defend Adams on his grandstanding about ANYTHING sexual related?

Is it not creepy that Adams is highlighting this issue given that he lied about his sexual problems?

I guess the 2nd howler is that some fools come here to defend Adams on this topic.

With such a huge variety of issues to select from, Adams taking this one up is in keeping with his personal political style: finding just enough cover to do something that makes people uncomfortable.

This particular issue is icky and sleazy even when addressed by professionals with flawless credentials, spotless record, and outstanding character. It's a serious criminal problem, true. Also true that it's an icky and sleazy subject of conversation and most people aren't in any position to witness, be aware of, or prevent it. For Adams to take to the Oregonian with a scolding editorial describing how the child sex trade works, well, he knows perfectly well that he's creeping people out. But like many other sorts of social transgressions, he's not above it.

Embarassing us even more. Not only do we have a mayor who lied about his teenaged lover to get elected, now he's playing social critic about the pedophilia problem?

At least our pedophilia problem is tame by world standards. In Afghanistan, for instance, where we are so busy spending all our GDP, pedophilia is socially accepted.
Pashtun women are enshrouded breeders of babies, while many of their men openly keep prebubescent boyfriends.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/world/2010/12/afghan-sex-practices-concern-us-british-forces

"When politics enter into municipal government, nothing resulting therefrom in the way of crimes and infamies is then incredible. It actually enables one to accept and believe the impossible."

--Mark Twain