Forget the conspiracies

Most people don’t even know who their mayor is, much less what he or she may look like or their accomplishments. Here in Portland, those who do not know who Mayor Sam Adams is have probably been living under a rock since the beginning of this year.

For those who are uninformed, Mayor Sam Adams lied during the election when he said that he had not had a sexual relationship with his teenage protégé Beau Breedlove. Since then, Adams has been under intense scrutiny. Many who previously did not even participate in local politics are now keeping a close eye on Adams and criticizing his policies.

Earlier this month, Adams was in a car accident. He struck a vehicle at Jantzen Beach and drove that vehicle into another. Adams thought that the car in front of him was turning right when it was not. He then hit the vehicle, panicked and hit his gas pedal instead of the brake. No one was injured and police considered this a minor accident. But of course, since Sam Adams was involved, this couldn’t be a mere accident.

Some witnesses reported smelling alcohol on Adams’ breath, another reported that his zipper was down. Police officer Sgt. Ron Berry debunked this theory by saying, “The mayor had no signs of being under the influence at all.”

Naturally, to those looking for another reason to hate Sam Adams, this is a cover-up conspiracy involving the North Precinct; the very same precinct from which the mayor recently cut funding and jobs. Many Portlanders, much less the police, have little reason to give breaks to Portland’s openly gay mayor who lied to get elected.

Conspiracy theorists would have us believe that Mayor Sam Adams, who is already being closely watched in everything he does, was dumb enough to drive drunk, while doing who knows what with his zipper down. Then, when he struck a vehicle, found it a good idea to purposefully put the pedal to the metal and proceed to ram the vehicle he hit, into another vehicle. This story strikes me as much more ridiculous than what probably happened.

What probably happened was an accident. Imagine that. Detective Mary Wheat even said that, “We go through these calls all the time.” People read into this situation what they want to, and their ability to judge objectively is impaired by the opinion they already have. Apparently those of the public seem to think that they would be completely calm and level headed in an accident, or perhaps that their driving skills are at such a level that they would never be in one in the first place.

To the skeptics of the story given by Adams and the police, this is not merely the case of a mayor getting in a car accident. Instead it is the case of a mayor who lied to get elected, lying again after causing an accident while under the influence.

Directly after the Beau Breedlove scandal, citizens would not even allow Adams to try and conduct business as usual and serve the city in his elected capacity. Many went to town hall meetings, not to comment on current issues like the budget, education or healthcare, but to simply berate the mayor. 

The allegations of Adams’ sexual escapades were not an attempt to altruistically uncover the truth, but an attempt by Adams’ opponents in the election to smear him. His opponents were interested in the validity of the accusations only insofar as they could be presented to the public to attack Sam Adams and negatively affect his chances of getting elected.

Now that all the information has come out, that information essentially being that a mayor had a consensual relationship with a young man, it seems Adams cannot even be human and err like the rest of us.

Adams was in a car accident. He did not appear drunk. The police officers did not smell alcohol on him. He was fully alert and trying to be helpful at the scene. How this turned into “Drunken mayor plays with himself and crashes into two cars” is beyond this writer’s comprehension.

The public needs to give Adams a break and stop making him into the monster that they want him to be.