A report from 1984 filed by an Oregon child-welfare investigator reveals the state’s shocking determination that Seattle Mayor Ed Murray sexually abused his foster son. The investigator also recommended that Murray never again receive certification as a foster parent.
The state’s investigation into charges filed by foster son Jeff Simpson substantiated the teen’s claims that Murray sexually molested him in the 1980s, the Seattle Times reported.
“In the professional judgment of this caseworker who has interviewed numerous children of all ages and of all levels of emotional disturbance regarding sexual abuse, Jeff Simpson has been sexually abused by … Edward Murray,” the report by CPS caseworker Judy Butler said.
Murray, an openly gay man elected as Seattle mayor in 2013, was never charged with the crime.
In reply to the revelations, Murray was adamant that they are meaningless. “The system vindicated me,” he said, noting that charges were never filed.
But Murray was never “vindicated.” Indeed, the state felt he was guilty. The charges were dropped for other reasons.
The records reveal that prosecutors had problems with the victim’s uncooperative behavior. Records show that the case was dropped against Murray not because no one believed he molested the boy, but because the victim was simply too unreliable to bring a case.
“It was Jeff’s emotional instability, history of manipulative behavior and the fact that he has again run away and made himself unavailable that forced my decision,” Deputy District Attorney Mary Tomlinson wrote in a 1984 letter.
“We could not be sure of meeting the high burden of proof in a criminal case — of proof beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty. However, this in no way means that the District Attorney’s Office has decided Jeff’s allegations are not true,” Tomlinson added.
During the last year, Murray has been hit with a wave of accusations that he molested several young men in the 1980s. He initially denied the claims, but the accusations became so intense that Murray decided not to run for re-election, despite earlier claims he would never step down.
Until the onslaught of accusations of sexual molestation, Murray was a poster boy for far-left policies. He has been a staunch defender of the city’s sanctuary city status and has a long history of fighting for progressive causes. When he was in the state legislature, for instance, he led the fight for the state to recognize gay marriage. And once elected Seattle’s mayor, Murray launched a campaign to push the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. Murray has also been a leading opponent of President Donald Trump, favoring efforts to torpedo the president’s immigration policies.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.