It's "Nickels". You know, like "Greg Five Cents".

I bet there's four former foster kids out there who would probably pen a different letter.

Shows how much of an establishment democrat he is.

The excuses, "messy and time consuming", should not have a bearing on the decision. Clearly, our former mayors need an ethics refresher.

It takes a lot to get tossed out of the powerful white bro club. A few alleged child molestation incidents? Nope.

Opportunity for McGinn to reiterate his position.

"A transition merely months before electing a new mayor would be messy and time consuming, and would present serious challenges to the day-to-day operations of the city. "

No, it wouldn't. Bruce Harrell, now president of the City Council, knows the job (he ran for it) and has sat on the Council for many years. That reasoning from the four mayors doesn't pass the sniff test.

As for Royer and the "we don't know" - the state of Oregon seemed know - that's why they banned Murray from ever being a foster parent again.

They're correct. It's called due process.

BTW, where's this anonymous case worker from the eighties? How come she's never spoken up - now, or for all these years, eitther? How come all these morally outraged individuals don't even expect as much? Where is s/he? What if s/he is some homophobe? I'm disturbed by these allegations, too, but how come people aren't considering other possibilities as well including the presumption of innocence?

In the meantime, how come people aren't more morally outraged about rising rents and homelessness which we DO have the facts on. And which DOES belong in the arena of public opinion - vs the court system for Murray and his accusers.

How come people aren't more concerned about the deal Gonzales made with developers for only one percent affordable housing in the University District, of all places, where so many youths are homeless? Many of whom ran away because of exactly these kinds of issues! Or --
where they're gouging the student loan RACKET. How else do you think students - some of whom are still in their teen years or barely out of them - are able to live near their university with those kinds of rents? You honestly think these cretins don't know what they're doing?

Honestly, people, this is distraction. We have a court system that has to play out. Focus on what these politicians aren't doing for this city and its people -- when they could if they weren't scandalously in league with the developers. And --- I have to wonder -- who's really giving Gonzales her marching orders when she makes public statements about Murray and she's an attorney herself who well understands due process -- or should!

@8 I'm VERY SAD that a bird lover would post something like this. Pedophilia is a serious matter. Eventhough he is innocent until proven guilty, his and his lawyer's conduct after the accusations were made - publicizing his accusers' criminal history, etc. - looked very much like intimidation, and very inappropriate use of power for someone in public office!

BTW, where's this anonymous case worker from the eighties? How come she's never spoken up - now, or for all these years, eitther? How come all these morally outraged individuals don't even expect as much? Where is s/he? What if s/he is some homophobe?

Oregon has been such a fount of anti-gay bigotry over the years that Hands Off Washington was created in the early 1990s to protect our state from it spreading here. The myth of the gay man as child molester is alive and well, here and now, in a city with a married gay mayor. Read the many comments on the threads about this story here to see how many persons still believe it. That does not mean the anonymous caseworker was a bigot, but it's at least a possibility worth examining.

Likewise, Simpson himself has long been a member of a fundamentalist sect of Christianity, and seems to be surrounded by such zealots, urging him to attack Murray. It's worth noting that Murray was a foster parent to Simpson because Simpson kept returning to him, and that the system there considered Murray to have been Simpson's best-ever foster parent.

Pedophilia is a serious matter. Eventhough he is innocent until proven guilty,

Yes, you are indeed innocent until proven guilty. But we get to call you a child-rapist anyway, all of the time, in public, and try to hound you from your job. Sound fair to you?

If not, why are you doing it to someone else?