Oregon’s attorney general has issued a report in his investigation of Portland Mayor Sam Adams, finding no evidence the mayor violated any state laws in his relationship with Beau Breedlove.  According to a report by Portland’s FOX12:

In the Department of Justice report, Breedlove alleged two incidents of kissing before his 18th birthday, but the DOJ said it was unable to corroborate his account. The report also said Breedlove’s “prior inconsistent statements, financial gain and prior felony conviction for a crime involving deception compromised his credibility as a witness.”

In addition to finding no evidence of illegal sexual contact, Kroger’s report also said there was no evidence Adams committed official misconduct or that he engaged in theft by deception.

During the course of the Department of Justice investigation, 57 people were interviewed. The investigation team also examined phone records, security records, social networking sites, e-mails, text messages and Breedlove’s Blackberry cell phone. In May, Adams also took part in a 3 ½ hour interview with investigators.

As the clock strikes midnight tonight, Portland, Oregon residents will welcome both a new year and a new mayor.

Mayor-elect Sam Adams will officially be sworn in tonight, making him the first openly gay mayor of a top 30 U.S. city. Adams won the mayoral primary in May with more than 50 percent of the vote, allowing him to avoid a runoff against his nearest opponent.

The invitation-only ceremony will take place tonight at City Hall, while his public swearing-in ceremony will be held on Monday at a local high school.

The paper writes:

Adams, 45, has risen on the force of his liberal and creative ideas, frenetic energy and legendary work ethic.

Although he didn’t campaign on diversity issues, most Portlanders probably know he’s gay. He’s prominent in the gay community’s well-organized national campaign for equality. He raises money for the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund and said he won’t stop fighting until gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people are recognized as equal under the law.

Still, Adams rarely makes an issue of his sexuality, and his opponents in the May primary didn’t raise it.

And that’s just the way Adams wants it.

“I don’t want to be a gay mayor,” he said. “I do want to be a great mayor. There is no gay pothole and no straight pothole. They’re just potholes.”

Adams is truly a mainstream politician, said City Commissioner Nick Fish, a former labor and civil rights lawyer who lost to Adams for a City Council seat four years ago.

“He is focused on bread-and-butter issues: job creation, economic development, getting businesses to come here,” Fish said. “That is not the typical mantra of a Democrat in this community.”

Yet Fish said Adams’ sexuality does have a political impact. As with President-elect Barack Obama, Fish thinks Adams has broken a barrier in part just by being who he is. And that’s important, he said.

“If they knew nothing else about Sam as a candidate, they knew he was gay and that is a powerful thing to young voters and to liberals in general,” Fish said. “The movement for gay rights is the civil rights movement of our time. The movement for gay marriage is the equal rights struggle of our day.”

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund will honor actress and comedian Margaret Cho at the 8th Annual Gay & Leadership Awards — a gala event held at Washington D.C.’s Sewall-Belmont House and Museum on Sept. 24.

Sam Adams, the new mayor-elect of Portland, Oregon, will host the awards presentation. Adams, a recent Victory Fund endorsee, will become the first openly gay mayor of a top 30 U.S. city when he is sworn in in January.

“Margaret Cho has shown real leadership in supporting the rights of the LGBT community.  It is fitting and important that our community comes together to applaud and thank her for being such a remarkable and remarkably funny voice for equality,” said Denis Dison, the Victory Fund’s vice president for external affairs.

To purchase a ticket, click here.

Portland City Commissioner and Mayor-elect Sam Adams plans to take a trip to China to promote the city’s green products and services.

Adams, who became the first openly gay mayor of a top 30 city with his recent election, will talk with Chinese leaders in Beijing, Shanghai and Qingdao along with five other city mayors on a trip hosted by the National League of Cities.

“Supporting China in its efforts to become sustainable is not only a moral imperative, it is also an economic opportunity,” Adams says. “One of the goals of the trip will be to place Portland and its businesses in a strategic position to benefit from the ‘greening’ of China.”

According to The Oregonian, Adams says he plans to develop a Portland export trade strategy within six months of taking office as mayor.

Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams says that as a young gay person, he never would have imagined that he would be elected mayor.

“Hopefully, it’s a sign that we’ve broken through another glass ceiling,” Adams said. “We still have other glass ceilings to go, but hopefully people are getting encouragement to pursue their dreams.”

Adams spoke to The Washington Blade recently after becoming the city’s mayor-elect in his election last month. The election makes him the first openly gay mayor of a top 30 U.S. city.

The article discusses Adams’ experience coming out to his family and community in his home state of Montana. The Blade reports:

The experiences spurred Adams to conceal details of his personal life when he left college to work in politics.

“I just didn’t talk about my private life,” he said. “I really feared if I came out early in my career, I would be pigeon-holed as sort of the gay guy.”

During this time, Adams said, he maintained a relationship with a “very understanding” partner, but stayed “in the closet” until 1995, when a reporter outed him.

The article made for some awkwardness in the office, Adams said, but benefited him in the long run.

“It was one of the best things that could have happened to me,” he said. “I didn’t have to go through that torturous process of sitting people down and saying, ‘I’m gay.’”

He graduated from the University of Oregon in 2002 and was elected to the Portland City Council in 2004.

Specializing in transportation and environmental issues, Adams found Portlanders were more interested in discussing their broken streets than his sexual orientation.

“Potholes aren’t gay potholes or straight potholes,” he said. “They’re just potholes.”

Adams said that public attitude held during his mayoral campaign this spring and helped him avoid being labeled as the gay candidate or having to frequently address his sexual orientation.

“It did not play a significant role — and that’s the way it should be,” he said. “I’m a public servant who’s gay. I’m not a gay public servant.”

That doesn’t mean Adams avoids championing gay issues. He said he’s proud to have helped pass Portland’s “equal benefits ordinance,” which requires contractors that offer spousal benefits to married couples to offer the same benefits to domestic partners.

“I’m a strong advocate for LGBT civil rights issues,” he said. “But at the same time, I want people to treat me in the same way that they treat a heterosexual person or a bisexual person or a transgender person. And I treat them the same way.”