Seattle Mayor to resign amid sex abuse allegations

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray (D) resigned on Tuesday after a fifth man accused him of sexual abuse.

Murray, 62, has denied all of the allegations, but said that he did not want his personal issues to stand in the way of Seattle’s governance. 

“While the allegations against me are not true, it is important that my personal issues to not affect the ability of our City government to conduct the public’s business,” Murray said in the statement. 

JUST IN: Seattle’s gay mayor, Ed Murray, announces he’s resigning on Weds, after yet another allegation he molested a minor. He denies it. pic.twitter.com/JahBAbbhxS

— Dominic Holden (@dominicholden) September 12, 2017

{mosads}”I am proud of all that I have accomplished over my 19 years in the Legislature, where I was able to pass what were at the time the largest transportation packages in state history, a landmark gay civil rights bill and a historic marriage equality bill,” the mayor said. 

“But it has also become clear to me that in the light of the latest news reports it is best for the city if I step aside,” Murray added. 

Murray’s resignation will take effect at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. 

The latest allegations against Murray came from Joseph Dyer, 54, his cousin, according to a report in the Seattle Times.

The Times reported that Dyer, 54, said Murray had forced him to have sex while the two lived in the same room in Dyer’s mother’s house, and that the abuse only stopped when Murray was accused of abuse by a boy in a Catholic group home where Murray worked. 

Murray, a former Democratic state legislator who was elected mayor in 2013, announced in May that he would not seek reelection after he was involved in a lawsuit in which a man claimed that Murray had raped and molested him in 1986.