Sam Adams (politician)

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Sam Adams is a politician from Oregon. In 2004 he was elected to the Portland City Council, defeating attorney Nick Fish. His victory came as a surprise in light of the primary election results, which saw Fish take a considerable lead.

Commissioner Adams is Portland's Commissioner of Public Utilities; he runs the Portland Office of Transportation (PDOT) and the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services. As such, he recently became involved in the development of the Portland Aerial Tram, a project that will link the South Waterfront district to the campus of Oregon Health & Science University; the controversial project had been going massively over budget, and Adams publicly dismissed several city officials who had been involved in its supervision. Even so, opponents of the project have laid a considerable part of the responsibility on Adams himself, who had played a major role in the project winning approval while serving on the staff of Mayor Vera Katz.

Adams and his staff regularly maintain a blog highlighting their activities in the community, especially pertaining to Adams' priorities such as arts & culture, livability & environment, and transportation.

Before being elected, he was Chief of Staff to Mayor Katz. He took office on December 31, 2004 and his term is scheduled to expire in 2008. There has been speculation in the press, on which Adams has not commented, that he is preparing a mayoral bid for the 2008 election.

Adams was the first openly gay member of Portland's City Council.