Bob Ball, a wealthy, gay developer here in Portland once had plans to run for Mayor in this next election. The problem? He just destroyed any chance that he had by launching a 'secret' smear campaign against openly gay Portland City Councilor Sam Adams who will soon be announcing his intentions to run for Mayor as well.
The rumor that Bob Ball began was that Adams had a sexual encounter with a 17 year-old capitol staffer. The problem is that with any lie, the truth often quickly comes out and as it turns out, it is nothing more than a slimy smear campaign.
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From the Oregonian:
He'd heard rumors, Ball told Leonard, that the most likely candidate for mayor, City Commissioner Sam Adams, had been in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old legislative intern.
It was among the most potentially damaging accusations that could be leveled against a gay politician, particularly one as high profile and ambitious as Adams. And it was coming from another gay man who also was thinking about running for the city's top job.
After Ball told Leonard and former Mayor Vera Kataz this rumor they had this to say:
Those he told, including Leonard and former Mayor Vera Katz, said they took it as an attempt at political assassination.
In the fallout, Leonard went so far as to tell Ball to give up any hopes of seeking political office: "As long as I've been doing this stuff, and keep in mind that I started in union politics, I've never felt so dirty. I've told Bob, 'You're not running for mayor. You're not running for City Council. You're done.' "
AMEN. And there's more...
The story he[Ball] told went like this, Leonard said: Almost three years ago, while Adams was lobbying in Salem, he met a 17-year-old legislative intern. The young man later called Adams to seek his advice on coming out and entering politics as a gay man. They had lunch, and one thing led to another.
Ball told Leonard he heard the story this summer from two former Adams employees, who had encouraged Ball to run for mayor against their former boss because they worried about Adams' judgment and the potential impact on future gay candidates. If either Ball or Adams runs and wins the city's top job, he would become the first openly gay mayor of a top-40 U.S. city.
I would love to know who these people are and where they get off making a statement like that and then recommending Ball make such an accusation.
If these people are so concerned about 'the potential impact on future gay candidates' then don't take play out of the right-wing extremists' playbook. It's disgraceful. Bob Ball should be ashamed of himself.
Here's more about the capitol staffer and what he had to say about the situation:
Adams and several of his staffers tell a similar story to the one Ball has spread, with one big exception: They say that in 2005, Adams did meet a young man named Beau Breedlove during a trip to Salem to lobby for, among other things, more state transportation money.
Breedlove, then an intern for state Rep. Kim Thatcher, a Keizer Republican, asked to meet with Adams the next time he came to Portland. Adams took him to lunch at the Macaroni Grill, where the young man told Adams that he was gay and confused about how to reconcile his professional ambitions -- a career in politics -- with his personal life. It was during that conversation, Adams said, that he learned that Breedlove was just 17.
Soon after that meeting, Breedlove showed up at one of Adams' regular First Thursday parties, monthly open-to-the-public art exhibits at City Hall. Adams and Breedlove walked to dinner afterward at the Lotus Cardroom and Cafe, four blocks away. Afterward, Breedlove's boyfriend picked him up, Breedlove said.
Adams took a date to Breedlove's 18th birthday party. For a month or two, Adams said, they spoke on the phone almost weekly and exchanged numerous text messages.
Yet both men say there was nothing romantic or sexual between them.
"He was a mentor more than anything else," said Breedlove, now 20 and the manager of a restaurant in Michigan. "That was my only interest. That was his only interest."
Bob Ball will now be remembered for the potential mayoral candidate that ruined his political career before it even began.
Labels: 2008 elections, basic rights oregon, dick of the week, portland
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