Seattle Turd-stabber Mayor Ed Murray Accused of Decades-Old Sex Attacks

[Amused]

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray was accused in a lawsuit this week of
"repeatedly and criminally raping and molesting" a teenage boy
decades ago, a charge denied by representatives of the mayor,
who said the allegation was timed to damage his re-election
campaign.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday by a 46-year-old man identified only
as D.H., alleges that he met Murray in the mid-1980s, when he
was a 15-year-old homeless high school dropout and drug addict.
Murray, in his early 30s at the time, paid D.H. for sex acts at
his home in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, the lawsuit
says. It details some of those alleged encounters with graphic
details, including descriptions of Murray's genitals.

The accuser, who spent some time as a prostitute and admits to
having past criminal convictions, says in the lawsuit that he
decided to come forward publicly with the allegations after
receiving counseling following the recent death of his father.

"These moments of reflection, and awareness that Mr. Murray
maintains a position of authority, prompted the filing of this
lawsuit in an attempt at accountability, and to hopefully give
courage for other potential victims to come forward and speak
out," the lawsuit says.

Murray, 61, who is openly gay and married, has championed gay
rights and touts his work on behalf of "vulnerable populations."
His lawyer and spokesman said the allegations were false.

Spokesman Jeff Reading called the lawsuit a "shakedown effort"
timed weeks before the May 19 mayoral campaign filing deadline.
"Mayor Murray has never engaged in an inappropriate relationship
with any minor," Reading said in a statement.

D.H. is seeking unspecified monetary damages, the lawsuit says.
D.H.'s lawyer did not immediately return calls for comment
Friday.

Murray's lawyer, Robert Sulkin, added to the denials in a press
conference. "Think about it. For 30 years nothing was said, and
all of a sudden an accuser comes who appears, it has been
reported, has a long criminal record, and makes these
allegations."

Sulkin and Reading also acknowledged that there were similar
accusations made by two other men to lawyers, reporters and
lawmakers in 2007. Those accusations did not go public at the
time, however.

One man, Jeff Simpson, spoke to NBC Seattle affiliate KING 5 and
Portland NBC affiliate KGW, saying he met Murray while living in
an orphanage, and that the future mayor "was my only parent
figure." He said he told workers at a group home what had
happened, and the alleged abuse stopped.

Simpson told the Seattle Times that he hired a lawyer to bring a
case against Murray in 2007, but the lawyer backed out. Simpson
told the paper and then called media organizations and
Washington state lawmakers. At the time, Murray was a state
senator; the allegations did not become public, and did not
hinder his political career. Simpson told reporters that he'd be
willing to testify in a civil trial.

The other man told the Seattle Times that he told Simpson's
legal team about his experiences with Murray.

The accusers recently identified themselves in interviews with
the Seattle Times, which detailed the entire set of allegations
this week. The newspaper said it previously chose not to report
the earlier 2007 allegations, but decided to do so this week
because similarities with the new allegations gave them
"additional weight and relevance."

The men told the newspaper that Murray paid them for sex when
they were teenagers living in Portland, Oregon.

Sulkin said the prior allegations had already been deemed not
credible. Reading said they'd been "promoted by extreme right-
wing antigay activists" during the state's battle over gay
marriage.

Both Murray representatives said the mayor would "vigorously"
fight D.H.'s lawsuit.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/seattle-mayor-ed-murray-
accused-decades-old-sex-attacks-n743876