Mayor Sam Adams has failed to carry out his official duties.

Mayor Sam Adams supports policies that are NOT in the public interest.

Mayor Sam Adams should be recalled.

Mayor Sam Adams has failed in his singular statutory responsibility to oversee and hold ACCOUNTABLE the annual spending of more than $80,000,000 in taxpayer money by unelected appointees on the board of the Housing Authority of Portland. His defiant coverup of HAP public housing statistical data alone is sufficient reason to remove him from office.

Mayor Sam Adams has refused to vet a single nominee for the HAP board by asking them their views on public housing policy as well as how and where they intend to annually spend more than $80,000,000 in taxpayer money.

Mayor Sam Adams refuses to use the words, "Public Housing" in public giving the impression that "Public Housing" i.e., housing that is totally under government control (Public Housing = Means Test + Government Subsidy + Rental Agreement) does not exist in the city of Portland.

Mayor Sam Adams arrogantly dismisses the Bureau of Housing's published advocacy for equitable distribution of Public Housing by his indefensible support for the discredited and abhorrent policy of UNLIMITED neighborhood concentration of Public Housing. 

Mayor Sam Adams failed to stop or even speak out against new construction of Public Housing by the Hacienda CDC on N. Newell Street in the Portsmouth neighborhood despite knowing for years that Portsmouth has the highest total number and the second highest percentage of Public Housing clients of any neighborhood in Oregon.

Mayor Sam Adams failed to acknowledge the request from the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area Advisory Committee, supported by the Portsmouth Residents Action Committee and the North Portland Business Association, to stop funding Public Housing in the Portsmouth neighborhood and redirect Public housing funds to neighborhoods with less than 15% Public housing.

Mayor Sam Adams failed to provide public housing statistical data for the Bureau of Housing during the recent budget process thereby deliberately obscuring the real number of personnel involved in Public housing and expenditures devoted to Public housing especially those of the recently acquired PDC housing division.

Mayor Sam Adams paid lip service of support to the North Portland business community during a visit on his inauguration day. However, despite repeated requests that he support programs and policies that bring more disposable income to North Portland in order to attract and sustain businesses, Adams unabatedly continued his policy of concentrating and expanding the number of low-income Public housing clients in already overloaded North Portland neighborhoods.

Mayor Sam Adams failed to demand or even defend the need for DUE PROCESS in the disposition of the John Ball School property but, conveniently for him and hypocritically, allowed due process in the disposition of the Washington/Monroe School site. 

Mayor Sam Adams blithely dismissed the overwhelming demand for DUE PROCESS in the disposition of the John Ball School property from 195 members of the Portsmouth Residents Action Committee, the North Portland Business Association and the Portsmouth Neighborhood Association.

Mayor Sam Adams seduced hundreds of activists to city hall in January 2009 with the promise of including citizen input in the marching orders assigned to Portland lobbyists headed to Salem. This totally disingenuous, ego satisfying stunt resulted in not a single suggestion by any individual that spoke being included in the lobbyists agenda. A total fraud committed solely for personal self-aggrandizement.

Mayor Sam Adams has budgeted public funds to recognize and support organizations within the Office of Neighborhood Involvement that refuse to hold fair, honest and democratic elections by limiting public announcements of their elections and denying access prior to and during an election to organization members and the city council of contact information of those members considered eligible to vote.

Mayor Sam Adams supports our failed system of city government by five fiefdom fiat. "You don't mess with my bureaus and I won't mess with yours" denies the fundamental premise of checks and balances democratic government.

Mayor Sam Adams has not used the platform of his office to support a single payer health care solution to Oregon/America's moral and economic health care crisis. His budget votes condone a never ending escalation in the city's contribution to public employee insurance premiums that currently allow a maximum of $1,246/month and rising with no end in site.

Mayor Sam Adams disrespects his own staff:
A. When Wade Nkrumah took the job as Mayor Sam Adams' spokesperson, he did so because he wanted to serve the public. Then Sam Adams lied repeatedly about his relationship with a teen, not only to Wade, but to the entire city. Sam Adams' pattern of lies created an employment situation that was intolerable for my client so he was forced to resign. Wade specifically told Sam Adams that he was resigning because of the lies about the teen. Sam Adams falsely stated that Wade quit because he couldn't handle the stress which hurt Wade's reputation. Wade was a veteran journalist at The Oregonian, working there for more than 20 years. He worked on deadline, interviewed the public and politicians alike and regularly wrote about a variety of issues under pressure. Wade contacted Sam Adams and his staff in person, by mail, and by telephone attempting to resolve this matter privately. They ignored his inquiries and did not even give him the courtesy of a reply. My client had no other recourse but to handle this matter through the legal system.

Michael G. Hanlon
Law Offices of Michael G. Hanlon

B. Richard Ellmyer spent almost six hours recently in meetings with two senior staffers from Adams' office discussing all of the issues mentioned above. Ellmyer, who vigorously supported Adams against Nick Fish in the dark days before his election to commissioner and who has written more positive stories about Sam Adams than any other writer in Oregon, asked these staffers to please explain to him why Sam is making decisions completely contrary to the positions which he previously held and which caused Ellmyer to support Adams for both commissioner and mayor. By NOT giving his staffers an explanation for ANY of his public policy positions in question Sam Adams devalued the professionalism and usefulness of his staff.

The following have publicly stated their lack of support for mayor Sam Adams:
Just Out
Willamette Week
Oregonian
Portland Tribune
Thomas Lauderdale, Pink Martini band leader
Lars Larson - Radio talk show host
Tom Potter - Former mayor of Portland
Richard Ellmyer - Writer/Publisher HAP Watchers

The breadth and magnitude of opposition to Adams in our community assures that he has already lost respect (Representative Earl Blumenaur, senator Ron Wyden et. al. consider Adams politically "toxic" and won't be caught in the same room with him) and the ability to exercise the most important function of any elected official, namely, influencing both the public and power players to achieve the common good and enhance the quality of life. Mayor Sam Adams is disrespected by such a significant portion of our community that it is no longer possible for him to succeed in the role of the mayor of our city.

Go here: http://www.citizenrecall.org/joomla/ 

Get a petition. Sign it. Carry it with you. Get your family, friends and neighbors to sign it.

Thank you.

Richard Ellmyer