Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, center, motions as he stands with other city officials following an inauguration ceremony for city officials Monday, Jan. 6, 2014, in Seattle. (Photo: AP)
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray resigned on Tuesday only hours after a fifth allegation surfaced that he sexually abused a younger cousin decades ago in New York.
Murray, 62, a former Democratic state legislator elected mayor in 2013, said in a statement that he is resigning effective 5 p.m. Wednesday.
“While the allegations against me are not true, it is important that my personal issues do not affect the ability of our City government to conduct the public’s business,” Murray said in a statement.
Joseph Dyer, 54, a dialysis technician and Air Force veteran, told The Seattle Times he was 13 when Murray forced him into sex. The alleged abuse went on for about a year as the two shared a bedroom in Dyer’s mother’s home in the Long Island town of Medford, New York.
“There would be times when I would fake sleeping because I didn’t want him touching me,” Mr. Dyer, who is now a married father living in another state, told The Seattle Times during an interview. “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 has been hit with numerous child sex-abuse allegations since April. He blamed the allegation on a family history.
“I did not sexually abuse any of her children. There’s a larger backstory between the Murrays and the Sottiles,” Murray said. “There’s been numerous fights between our two families for many years, and much ugliness. I guess they see me down and out, and they want to finish me off.”
Mr. Dyer claimed the abuse only stopped after a boy in a Catholic group home where Murray worked accused him of abuse. He said his uncle negotiated to get group-home officials not to pursue charges as long as Murray left. Afterward, Murray left town and he never saw or spoke with his cousin again.
That group home is still operating and an official did confirm that an Edward Murray worked there from 1975 to 1976. However, there are supposedly no records on why he left.
Until now, meaning until it was a relative, he had weathered the storm of child-abuse allegations as mayor of the deeply Democratic city. He claims that he is being targeted for his progressive politics and for “being a gay-rights champion.”
His accusers disagree.
“I feel victory, but saddened that it required another victim to come forward for him to resign,” Lloyd Anderson, another alleged victim said in a statement Tuesday through his lawyer. “I wonder how many other victims are out there.”
City Councilmember Bruce Harrell will become mayor and will decide within five days whether to fill out the remainder of the term, the statement says.
