Portland's so-called Mayor continues to gamely stay in the office he "won" by deceit, and the Portland City Council continues to do nothing. Meanwhile, every week, citizens line up to tell Sam Adams to resign, and to chide the City Council for twiddling their thumbs.
Still, the farce grows in scope even as Sam and his pals attempt to downplay events. In the latest installment, television station KATU reports that their request for public records from Sam's office was delayed, obfuscated, skirted, and otherwise hampered.
It all started weeks ago when the mayor issued a public apology over the scandal involving his relationship with a young intern. During the press conference, KATU requested Adams' phone, calendar and e-mail records from the spring of 2005, when the then city commissioner was developing a relationship with 17-year-old Beau Breedlove.
Eventually, the City quoted KATU a cost of $1.5 million (excluding legal fees) to retrieve the public records. According to the Office of Management and Finance, it would take a single employee 10 years to get the records. No word on how long it would take a married employee, or one involved in a civil union to pull the records. Presumably, the City's single employees are all Sam wannabes; scouring the state in relentless pursuit of minor children to groom for sex. You can see why it might take ten years to retrieve public records if you're doing it in your spare time. The only other explanation that makes any sense involves the City using really slow computers (Osborne? Atari?) for search and retrieval of records requested under the FOIA and state law.
Eventually, they were able to bargain the City down to around $195.00 for the documents (which still haven't been turned over, as of this moment).
Portland. The City That Works (you over).
