Oregon Media Insiders

Portland developer Bob Ball was considering a mayoral bid when he says he heard that his potential opponent, commissioner Sam Adams, had done something career-ending with a 17-year-old boy.

He brought up the rumor with two political contacts, both of whom believe they were being used in a political smear. The Oregonian and Willamette Week investigated, but neither could find any evidence, any accuser, or anyone who believed the story. Both Adams and the now 20-year-old man say it's untrue.

Willamette Week's Nigel Jaquiss decided that something about this merited publication. Breaking the news online, his lede intoned ominously of a politician engaged in "damage control" over "persistent rumors," detailing all the gory lack of evidence for two dozen paragraphs.