Can Portland's Gay Mayor Survive a Scandal?

The cast of Portland's sex scandal has a certain ring to it: Sam Adams. Bob Ball. Beau Breedlove and his dog, Lolita. "Everyone has porn names!" says Mark Wiener, laughing. "Until yesterday, it had never occurred to me that the worst offending name was mine." Wiener (pronounced Weener) is one of Oregon's most influential political consultants and a former--now disheartened--adviser to the protagonist in this political soap opera. That would be Adams, 45, the new mayor of Portland and the first openly gay man to lead a major U.S. city, who on Jan. 20 publicly admitted to having had a sexual relationship with a teenage legislative intern in 2005.

Portland, with its extensive bike-friendly infrastructure and support networks for countless lifestyles, has long been proud of its reputation as one of the nation's most liberal cities. And when Adams, a former city commissioner, was sworn in on Jan. 1, the city was even prouder--despite the fact that whispers of impropriety had already surfaced. In 2007, amid inquiries into meetings between Adams and former legislative intern Breedlove, local real estate developer Ball, who is also openly gay and once had mayoral ambitions himself, hinted that the two had become sexually involved when Breedlove was just 17. Adams vigorously denied the claims. His supporters, including Wiener, rallied to his side as Adams shouted down Ball's insinuations as "sleazy" and a "smear." Willamette Week reporter Nigel Jaquiss, skeptical of Adams' denials, says that when he continued to dig into the story, he was portrayed as a homophobe on a witch hunt. "I got a lot of heat," he says, but he pursued the story and pressed Breedlove, now 21, to go on record about the affair. On Jan. 11, Jaquiss received a text message from Breedlove. "I'm scared," it read. "If the story goes to print without me saying anything, I'm worried I will look like a scumbag. If I do say anything, then Sam's fate is in my hands." Jaquiss again questioned Adams about the affair; Adams again denied it.

But the day before he was to attend Barack Obama's Inauguration in Washington, Adams called his colleagues and supporters and admitted there was some truth to the charge. "I believe what I said was, 'You're a f_____moron,'" says Wiener. "I was--and am--pissed and saddened by it." Another former ally, Randy Leonard, one of Portland's four city commissioners, was also dismayed--not least because the story kept changing. Adams' original version of a mentoring relationship became a romantic liaison that, the mayor insisted, didn't become sexual until after Breedlove turned 18, the age of legal consent in Oregon--and even that is under scrutiny. Breedlove suggested in an interview that when he was still underage, he shared a passionate kiss with Adams in a city-hall bathroom; Adams had earlier admitted that he had asked Breedlove to lie about their romance. Asks Leonard: "Why would he ask [Breedlove] to lie about a consensual relationship between adults?"