My issue here is that he lied. If he would have been honest at the start and not lied than I would have no problem with him. He was asked about a possible relationship and he lied about it. If he would have looked at people and said point blank that it is a personal issue that does not have anything to do with his job and pointed out that the young man is of age then I could give this guy some support.
Instead he lied and that sends the message that there was something to lie about. That for some reason he felt that there was something so wrong in what he was doing that he had to hide it.
What he has done sets us all back a long ways by making it appear dirty and wrong.
I do think that the man should resign because he cannot be trusted and he has set us all back through his actions.

Tobi as far as I can tell, you haven't lied or mislead anyone. In the strictest sense who you are or how you arrange your sex life shouldn't qualify or disqualify you for public office or employment.

The thing is, character and temperament play a huge part in who we select to serve in pubic office or hire to work in our agencies or businesses. The question then becomes what do those things you listed say about your character and temperament and what should they say about your character and temperament?

How much of that is fair comment and how much results in unfair discrimination?

For example, the nature and degree of your involvement in the sexwork industry is way more than I want to know, but it does give me pause to wonder about your willingness to insure that the laws be faithfully executed if you were to stand for election to executive office.

I would agree with you if this were just about sex. If I'm not mistaken he ran as openly gay. I'd be with you if this were about old guys having sex with young guys. It is about a lie to cover up what may be illegal activity. The problem is there are no credible voices in all this. Adams lied, Beau was asked and agreed to lie. Taking a date to your underaged boyfriend's family birthday party is a perfect foil.

The saddest thing is that the fallout from this affair turns the mentoring relationship into another euphemism for tryst.

(for the record, your talent would be wasted on the water and electric board. On the other hand, you'd be a fine legislator)

If we lived in a sex-positive society, I might be less likely to forgive this guy. But in my view, he has responded the same way millions of other Queer folk have responded when their livelihood was threatened by inquiries into their personal lives.

The appropriate answer, perhaps, "My sex life is none of you damned business", may have served him better, but like so many others, FEAR was likely part of the equation.

He has committed no crime. He does not even stand accused of misconduct, criminal or otherwise. In short, he's no Blago.

If it were a crime for a politician to lie to the press, only compulsive truth-tellers like Larry Flynt, Kate Clinton and Lewis Black could aspire to high office.

Mr. Adams should NOT resign, he should serve out his term, do a heckuva job, and be true to himself and his community.

We are not alone. Many other people can lose their jobs for other things.

If high school principals and teachers have DWI records or police records, they can lose their jobs.

If municipal employees run up parking tickets and stall to pay them up (in the same city where they work), they can lose their jobs.

Remember Mayor Barry of Washington D.C. and his cocaine habit?

So it is not only gay people that can be fired. Sex is not the only reason to get fired.

The higher in the hierarchy you go up, the more importance placed upon leadership quality, credibility and responsibility. I agree with GregC.

Other gay politicians in Congress and state offices have partners and that does not raise any media attention. In Congress, Barney Frank was accused more than ten years ago of going out with Congressional pages - the issues were underage boys and abuse of power. He has been censured and he has survived this old episode.

About working in the sex trade and running for the electric utilities board, that would be a gray area. The utility board assumes that its members are serious to serve the public interest and intelligent to make crucial decisions about setting utility rates and policy. However, I think that a prostitute was elected to one board a long time ago and she served her term well. That was the exception, not the rule.

I completely agree with you. If their is no evidence of wrong doing such as age of consent issues or miss use of authority. Then I see no real reason for this to even be a issue.

If a heterosexual had been in this situation I doubt it would be much more than a local media scandal and over in a week.

It seems that everyone is blaming Adams for being so dumb to have an affair with an 18yo guy. Many forget that it takes two to tango and unless Breedlove was raped then it was a consensual LEGAL relationship between 2 adults. No law was broken. Also most states feel that a 16 or 17yo is old enough to make a consensual decision on sex. Oregon's consent law is draconian. Hell most of Europe thinks a 14 or 15yo is plenty old enough to make a judgment of whether to have sex or not.

Howcome a 15yo can be tried as an adult for murder but a 17yo (in a few states) isn't mature enough to make a decision who he/she can have sex with? Our legal system is screwed up.

We seem to be a nation filled prudish people basking in their so-called morals based on fictional and unproven religious beliefs. Give me a break!!

I remind you that congressman Vitter from Lousiana cheated on his wife, broke the law by having sex with a whore and is still in office. He refused to resign. Why isn't he being thrown out of office for breaking the law? He admitted to breaking the law. Adams broke no laws.

Why the hell should Adams resign for having consensual sex with an adult and lying about it? He was screwed no matter if he answered the question or not answered it. The question should have never been asked in the first place. If he refused to answer the question then people would think he is hiding something anyway. If he said "none of your business" most prudes would think he is stand-offish and arrogant and wouldn't vote for him. So the guy did the next best thing and lied.

Something that may be an element and that I don't konw the full story on (how old is Sam Adams?) is a possible age difference. I've seen it happen where someone in his 40s connects with someone who's 18ish, and 20 years later, they're still together. So things aren't always as seemy as they look, and I don't have issue with that, but I do know that many do. Is that a factor here?

I don't buy the "he lied so he shouldn't be in office" argument for a lot of the same reasons that you point out. It's a definite discrepancy when lies pertaining to personal matters are relevant and lies pertaining to one's governance aren't. Which President was it who got impeached again?

Scandal is simply an easy, effective and popular tool used to sabotage people.

That the media only picks on salacious sex lies to call for resignations is obvious. They're completely biased and they prove it every day.

What I like even less is the haughty moral tone they take towards those who criticize them, as if we're somehow approving of lying by saying that Sam Adams should not resign. They see themselves as the guardians of the public's morality and they know that they need to cast themselves as the nation's ruler-wielding nuns every now and then so people don't see how much in bed with politicians they are.

This is as much about their power as it is about Adams's, and they probably legitimately think that this is what counts as "holding" a politician's "feet to the fire." All other substantive issues, well, lies are just a difference of opinion.

Still waiting for those WMD's to appear in Iraq, though.... And yet we can't even get the same sort of circus nationally to call for prosecution of Bush.

If we put all these statements together, one would have to come to the conclusion that fornication and sodomy are worse than genocide.

I said nothing about approving of the media circus being made of it. And yes for all of those who lied I would like to see them resign.
Simple really: If you do not wish to air a personal issue then when you are asked about it you should refuse to answer on the grounds that it has nothing to do with your job and is a personal matter.

I've just seen a statement by Adams' boyfriend quoted in The Oregonian that they did kiss and move towards romance when he was 17. So Breedlove is now evidently telling a different story than Adams told
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/01/breedlove.html

Because of these revelations by Breedlove, the issue is no longer about consensual sex between two adults. I would not be surprised to see prosecutors launch a criminal investigation on whether the two males' relationship went all the way when Breedlove was a minor. Adams is already on record as lying about this whole matter, so he may have lied when he stated that the two didn't have sex till Breedlove turned 18.

So Adams' lie is an issue, but it isn't the biggest issue.

Some commenters are missing that biggest issue, which is this: sex with minors is a criminal offense, whether you're gay or straight. The age of consent in Oregon is 18, not 17. We can all argue till the cows come home, as Tobi and others are arguing, about whether age-of-consent sex laws are unreasonable. But the fact is -- that is the law, and it can be enforced.

The lies (if that's what they are) would constitute "obstruction of justice," for sure. Lies by a public official certainly damage that official's credibility, as they did in Bill Clinton's case. But let's not go farther in comparing Adams' situation with that of Bill Clinton, because there was no question of Clinton having sex with minors when he told his now-famous lie.

I think that this suspicion that Adams might have broken the law is the main thing driving Adams' critics, and their demands for his resignation, even those coming from a portion of the local LGBT community...the ones who get what the real issue may be here. Because if Adams did break the law, the consequences won't be a mere question of "being fired because you had sex."

If he is charged, Adams will get his day in court, where he can fight to prove himself innocent. But if he is convicted, he will likely go to prison, and will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. And his political career will be toast.