Breedlove Campaigns to Recall Adams

Some Portland, Ore., residents are attempting to gather more than 32,000 signatures in an effort to recall gay mayor Sam Adams, including his former lover, Beau Breedlove.

Breedlove was among a group of about two dozen Adams opponents at a rally at Portland City Hall on Thursday. They were gathering signatures on petitions for a ballot measure to remove Adams from office. Breedlove told reporters he had no interest in carrying on any communication with the mayor after their relationship dissolved.

"I haven't turned on him," Breedlove said, according to KXL Radio. "He turned on me, and I've realized that in the course of the past nine months, the friendship that I thought we had was really him just trying to maintain what happened."

During Adams's 2007 campaign for mayor, he denied rumors that he had had a sexual relationship with Breedlove. He later admitted they had been intimate, but not while Breedlove was a minor. Adams has maintained the two had no sexual contact before Breedlove, who was an intern with the state legislature, turned 18 in 2005. The state attorney general halted an investigation on the case due to a lack of evidence.

As the April 20 deadline for petition signatures approaches, the campaign has collected between 10,000 and 15,000 so far, The Oregonian reports. Breedlove said some local business owners and key figures who otherwise would sign the petitions fear retaliation from the mayor's office, therefore making signature-gathering difficult.

The first attempt to recall Adams, in October of last year, failed due to a lack of professional staff and funding.