By Jim Brunner, Daniel Beekman and Lewis Kamb, September 13, 2017<\/p>\n
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray announced his resignation hours after a fifth accuser, a cousin, said Murray molested him when he was a child. Murray maintains he has never abused anyone.<\/p>\n
He announced his resignation Tuesday, hours after news emerged that a younger cousin was publicly accusing Murray of molesting him<\/a> in New York in the 1970s.<\/p>\n Murray, a former Democratic state legislator elected mayor in 2013, didn\u2019t appear in public to make the announcement. Instead, he issued a statement saying his resignation would be effective 5 p.m. Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the allegations against me are not true, it is important that my personal issues do not affect the ability of our city government to conduct the public\u2019s business,\u201d the mayor said.<\/p>\n He added he was proud of his accomplishments in a long political career, including landmark gay civil-rights laws and enactment of a $15 minimum hourly wage.<\/p>\n It was a stunning end to a monthslong drama that has seen five men step forward to accuse Murray of sexually abusing them years ago, when they were teenagers.<\/p>\n Since the allegations began to emerge in April, Murray has continued to say he is innocent. Though he ended his re-election campaign in May, Murray until Tuesday had insisted he would not resign, despite calls for his exit.<\/p>\n \u201cThe accumulation of these accusations and now coming from a family member just made it essential that he resign,\u201d said City Councilmember Tim Burgess.<\/p>\n Council President Bruce Harrell will temporarily serve as mayor and will decide within five days whether to take on the role of acting mayor past the Nov. 7 election.<\/p>\n Harrell may turn down the position of acting mayor because accepting it would require him to give up his council seat. If he demurs, the council will pick another of its members to serve until the election results are certified.<\/p>\n In the election, Seattle voters are choosing between former U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan and planner Cary Moon, and the winner will take over the mayor\u2019s office after the election results are certified Nov. 28.<\/p>\n Durkan entered the race after Murray ended his bid and accepted the mayor\u2019s endorsement. She removed his name from her campaign website Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n Moon first called for Murray to step down in May.<\/p>\n In a statement, Harrell said his \u201cheart goes out\u201d to survivors of sexual abuse due to \u201cthe re-traumatization these allegations have caused\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cThese accusations are unspeakable and require the utmost attention from our legal and social-service system no matter how long ago they might have occurred,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The city \u201cmust focus on governance and day-to-day business without distraction,\u201d Harrell added, saying he has a plan in place for a \u201cseamless transition.\u201d<\/p>\n Councilmember Kshama Sawant blasted her colleagues for failing to push Murray out. Before Tuesday, she and M. Lorena Gonz\u00e1lez were the only council members to call on the mayor to resign.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, the majority of the City Council failed to show any such leadership,\u201d Sawant said. \u201cEstablishment politicians and political operatives do not show courage on an ordinary basis, so this is yet another example.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked why he had held off on calling for Murray\u2019s ouster, Burgess said the new allegations felt different.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what to believe. I don\u2019t know if we\u2019ll ever know the truth in this situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Murray\u2019s midday announcement came soon after The Seattle Times reported on allegations by the mayor\u2019s cousin, Joseph Dyer, 54.<\/p>\n The fifth man to publicly accuse Murray of child sexual abuse, Dyer says he was 13 when Murray forced him into sex when the two shared a bedroom at Dyer\u2019s mother\u2019s home in Medford, New York, in the mid-1970s.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were very glad to hear that he\u2019s resigned,\u201d the mother, Maryellen Sottile, said Tuesday afternoon. \u201cWe hope it helps the others in some way.\u201d<\/p>\n Murray, 62, has repeatedly denied that he sexually abused anyone<\/a>, contending the accusations are part of a political takedown targeting him for his progressive politics and record as a gay-rights champion. He attributed the latest claims to bad blood between two estranged wings of the family.<\/p>\n Another accuser, Jeff Simpson, a former foster son of Murray\u2019s who claims Murray began abusing him at age 13, said of the resignation: \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it. I was like, you know what? God is good. When you\u2019re doing the right thing and don\u2019t quit before the miracle, God takes care of stuff. It\u2019s just on his time.\u201d<\/p>\n Simpson met Murray while growing up in a Portland group home for troubled children in the late 1970s. He tried to bring attention to his allegation in 2008, when Murray was in the Legislature, but his account was never publicly reported.<\/p>\n In July, newly released documents showed that an Oregon child-welfare investigator in 1984 had found Simpson\u2019s allegations valid<\/a>.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Simpson said, \u201cIf nothing else happens, and nothing else comes of it, for me, I will be OK. Because I believe I got my story out.\u201d<\/p>\n A third accuser, Lloyd Anderson, who met Murray in the same Portland group home as Simpson, issued a statement through his lawyer.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel victory, but saddened that it required another victim to come forward for him to resign. I wonder how many other victims are out there,\u201d said Anderson, who has alleged he was paid for sex as a teenager by Murray in the 1980s in Portland.<\/p>\n Delvonn Heckard, who sued Murray earlier this year<\/a> over alleged abuse, expressed relief.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, at least the public knows that everything I was saying was the truth, right?\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not just some crackhead, some criminal, some street kid, I was telling the truth \u2026 It\u2019s not just me, or one or two guys. It\u2019s his own cousin, too.\u201d<\/p>\n