Seattle Mayor Resigns After 5th Child Sex Abuse Allegation

After six months and a barrage of child sex abuse allegations, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray has announced his resignation.

The Seattle Mayor had four accusers up until yesterday, when news broke that a relative of his was also accusing him of sexually abusing him.

Murray’s younger cousin, Joseph Dyer, publicly accused Murray of molesting him during the 1970’s in New York.

Seattle Times reported the news of Dyer’s accusations in a lengthy and detailed article:

“There would be times when I would fake sleeping because I didn’t want him touching me,” Dyer, a married father who now lives in another state, recalled during an interview with The Seattle Times.

“And that’s when he would molest me. And my mother would be right there in the house, she’d be in the living room … watching TV, at that time it was probably “M*A*S*H.” And my sisters would be in their rooms, sleeping. And I would be in my room, and he would be in there, molesting me.”

Murray on Tuesday morning denied the allegations, saying he did live with his cousin, Maryellen Sottile, and her children in New York but did not abuse Dyer. He said there has been a rift in the family for years, and this accusation is untrue.

The Seattle Times article also said that the Seattle Mayor had no intention of resigning. That quickly changed and his statement of resignation appears not long after the news broke.

City Council member Tim Burgess said that, “The accumulation of these accusations and now coming from a family member just made it essential that he resign.”

Council President Bruce Harrell will serve as mayor in the meantime. Harrell said he will decide within 5 days if he will continue in the the role of acting mayor past the November 7th election. That election features U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan (Democrat) and community activist, Cary Moon (Democrat). Once election results are certified November 28th, the winner will resume the duties of Mayor.

Ed Murray

Ed Murray, elected Seattle Mayor in 2013, had pursued progressive and left leaning policies throughout his tenure that included the enactment of a $15 minimum hourly wage and gay civil-rights laws.

Murray went as far as to place a boycott on North Carolina over House Bill 2 – the law which barred the opposite sex from entering facilities such as showers and bathrooms.

House Bill 2 was put into place after Mayor Jennifer Roberts and the Charlotte City Council pushed an ordinance which barred same-sex facilities in both public and private facilities within the city limits.

The ordinance was crafted in part by the far left LGBT agenda group, the Human Rights Campaign.

The illegal Charlotte ordinance did the following:

Made single sex bathrooms illegal inside the city limits. This included both private and public owned facilities.
Granted legal access to any facility, at any time, by anyone which opened the door for sexual predators to have legal access to areas they did not have legal access to before.
Violated the NC Constitution.
Violated multiple state privacy statutes (ex. indecent exposure).
Violated existing state criminal trespass law.
Violated state and city building codes.

Public outcry over the ordinance loud and the General Assembly moved quickly to terminate the illegal ordinance from taking effect during a special session.

House Bill 2 did the following:

Rolled back Charlotte’s ordinance as it superseded their authority and state law.
Returns facilities access back to what it had been for decades prior to the Charlotte ordinance.
Put into place a uniform statewide anti-discrimination policy on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, age or sex.
Established a single, statewide standard for K-12 public schools, public buildings, and other public areas throughout North Carolina.
Schools and other facilities were NOT prohibited from providing reasonable accommodations such as single occupancy/unisex bathroom.
Directed employment related suits to the Federal courts. (This was later repealed.)
The bill made it easier to do business in North Carolina; it prevented businesses from being forced to comply with different rules in different cities/municipalities across the state.
Ensured attempts that future ordinances will not have to go through this same fight. This was solidified in 2017 with the passage of House Bill 142.