Comments

1
Assuming the charges to be true, I'm not sure who is creepier, Murray or Beauregard.
2
I don't care how creepy Beauregard is. We're not being asked to vote for him for Mayor.
3
Ask yourself why this is coming out now then research Jack and Angela Connelly.
4
@2

You should, because he's influencing the mayoral election.
5
@4: Not more than any other factor. The only "influence" that matters is us, the voters.
6
@4, he as a person is not influencing my vote. @3, everyone knows about that by now, and again, the personal viewpoints of lawyers don't really matter in legal cases.
7
I'm voting for Murray
8
@6

I was not planning to support Murray either way, and I don't care who influences your vote. But Beauregard is influencing the vote--or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say he's influencing the election.
9
Seatackled, there's no way to be certain about that one way or the other. The only thing I'm certain about now is that it sure looks like McGinn jumped in because Murray suddenly seemed to be vulnerable, and I'm sorry to think that.
10
Habeas scrotus
11
In the Cosby case, I knew it was serious when Gloria Allred and Judy Huth posed with her court filing like two rednecks and a goddamn trophy buck.

I thought this looked damning for Murray, but good god, Beauregard - could you make any more of a mockery of your own case?
13
@11, 12: Glad to see I am not the only one weirded out about that picture.

I have known some people who were profoundly abused, and getting closure/going to court was never something that caused even close to a reaction in them as I see in the picture above. We all have our own styles, but damn that picture strikes me as very odd.
14
@14
Weirdest picture of lawyer and "victim" ever.

Anyway the fact that the supposed victim says he's gay irrelevant to the ever stronger possibilitythat the case is totally political.
15
@9

Of course it's influencing the election. No one would be calling on Murray to resign if not for this, and McGinn has said he took this into consideration. That's politics and it'd be foolish not to do so.

But I don't think I am being a stickler for decorum to think that there is something depraved about the lawyer's public glee in all of this. So yeah, I don't support Murray, but I don't like Beauregard's​ influence on the race.
16
@15 - you're absolutely right!
17
Possible that photo has won the election for Murray.
18
I think the accuser being gay is supposed to support Beauregard's claim that he and his law firm support gay rights and is not homophobic at all.

Anyone read that declaration? (Sydney links to it.) The language is like what you would hear a police spokesperson or a lawyer say at a press conference. I presume the accuser will speak publicly soon, but the declaration seems coached.
20
kind of lame how Murray seems more likely to lose his post because of this weird shit vs. an actual strong challenger of a candidate
21
@19
Don't be a clown.
You know it's almost impossible to prove a negative of this sort of accusation.

22
@13,
Yeah that picture is weird all right. Beauregard didn't do him or his client a service with that smile. But I too, now think Murray is toast. This all so sordid and strange.
23
I believe in innocent until proven guilty, but I don't support the victim blaming - or victim's lawyer blaming, that seems prevalent on this comment thread.
25
We need to tax charges of sexual misconduct.
26
@25
You obviously do not understand the concept of corroborating witness.
The four people making claims are not witnesses for any actions but their own.
And the lawyer has put his own credibility , in actuality tho of course not legally,at issue with that unbelievable smarmy smile.
27
Oops I meant @24
28
@24: It, in my opinion, these cases don't rise to the level of criminal litigation. Nevertheless, it would be a noble, and ultimately a political savvy thing to do, for Mayor Murray to step aside.
29
Murray doesn't appear to be a person who could step aside in this or any other situation. If he were much younger, he might consider that he could do so, and eventually salvage his political career. But he's 61, I think, and if he stepped aside now, he'd never recover his career. If he sticks it out, there's the chance -- slim chance, but a chance, that these claims will go away through summary judgment before the election.
30
No doubt Murray feels one of the only ways to counteract the claims against him is to move resolutely forward. Resignation right now, in the middle of front page headlines, would be perceived as guilt by the public at large. That's just how public opinion rolls. That said, with 4 claims against him, he is unelectable for a second term and he has to know that. The best balance would be for him to talk quietly with someone who shares his values and then stand down when that person files to run (if that person hasn't already). Finishing this term, but with a gracious handoff in the next 2 weeks for the summer's primary would repair part of his reputation and would help push forward the causes he most cares about. It would also get him out of the national headlines and a good deal of the local ones. If the charges go away in the coming months, it might...might...let him re-enter the public sphere in a dignified way although probably never again as an elected.
31
Baloney
Murray likely to win,
33
@30: The only cause Murray cares about is his own political career.
34
How can Mayor Murray focus on his primary task of coddling big developers when he's so clearly distracted with legal problems?

Is there a gay man in Seattle who hasn't been solicited for sketchy sex with our mayor at this point? Every week the list grows and most of Seattle still pretends its not a pattern. Sad!
35
Surprise!
Men like to fuck!
Bigger surprise!
Gay men get more!

There is no way a court can find evidence to find that the plaintiff wins,
If plaintiff already had evidence, Murray would have resigned.
It's "he says, he says"… And go look at that picture and see what you think is going to be the most credible witness
37
Lets play future scenario game:

Murray refuses to step down, keeps running for re-election, and in fact, somehow, wins a second term. These accusations won't go away, even if they're without merit. They have to float their way through our civil courts, a process which will be slow and plodding and will take years in all reality. The allegations, even if untrue ultimately, will come with details. Many of them unsavory not because Murray is a gay man but because the crux of these accusations is that Murray sexually exploited at-risk persons of color. Their ability to consent to these transactions is also at question because of their ages or their state of mind (active drug users do not make the best informed consenters), which brings an added dimension to an already unsavory situation.

Every decision and every proposal that Murray makes will come with an addendum about this situation. The business of being mayor is permanently poisoned by this situation and the specter of these allegations, true or false, will add additional challenges to the business of running a city. Setting this situation aside, were he more popular or liked then I think these accusations would be considered less fatal to his career. The problem is that he's not that popular or well liked and many who voted for him don't feel that he's done a particularly good or effective job. That sentiment isn't going to improve if he's haunted by these allegations, the process of proving or disproving will last longer in all reality than his next term as mayor were he re-elected.

I'm sure he intends to vigorously defend himself but I don't think you can do that effectively and also be an effective mayor. He really should for the good of the city step down.
38
@ 37 Amen. He's been a lousy mayor to date and now he will be a distracted, lousy mayor. His performance will not improve.
39
So basically, all we need to do to royally fuck up this process even more than it is already is to go out and find some people who will claim another mayoral candidate (take your pick) did something horrible to them 30 years ago, then find a sketchy lawyer willing to take the case (preferably a hot-dogging show-boater who makes Jimmy McGill look positively august by comparison) and splash it all over the press. In each instance said candidate will be admonished by a shocked and disaffected public to withdraw, rather than: 1. suffer public humiliation should the accuser(s) be vindicated, or; 2. press on amidst a media shit-show which will render them politically impotent regardless of the outcome. And when we're done with that candidate, we can move on to the next - and the next - and...

I mean, if we're going to allow political discourse in this country to devolve into unabashed Ochlocracy, why not just go all the way with it?
40
How to murder someone in America and get away with it: Hit them with a car and say it was an accident.

How to murder someone's career in America and get away with it: Claim they raped/harassed you decades in the past. No evidence required!

Man is it easy to utterly fuck someone over these days with zero repricusions.
41
@40 Sadly but potentially yes, which is pretty horrifying. I tend to believe that the vast majority of the time these allegations do have merit and the people who make them falsely are a small, vindictively short-sighted group.

What's telling to me about all this is the fact that the Seattle City Council will not by and large take any public position about this. First, what I think this doesn't mean: It doesn't mean that they believe these allegations to be true. But what I think it does mean? This situation is so toxic that the only sane position to take is no position at all. The fact that no one on the city council will take any sort of position on it, especially in defense of our mayor, doesn't imply that other council members perceive him as guilty but they don't see any apparent upside to defending him, which may speak something to their overall professional opinion of him.
42
Naughty, naughty, naughty!

You filthy old soomka!

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