Seattle Mayor Ed Murray Says He Won't Step Down Despite Allegations Of Sexual Abuse Of Foster Son In 1984

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said in a statement Monday he would not step down from his position despite calls from mayoral candidates and Seattle City Council members asking him to resign.

"I continue to believe such a course of action would not be in the city’s best interest. That is why I am not going to resign, and intend to complete the few remaining months of my term as mayor," Murray said in a statement Monday, according to King5, affiliated to NBC News.

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Seattle mayoral candidates Mike McGinn, Jessyn Farrell and Cary Moon called for Murray's resignation following a Seattle Times report Sunday which revealed an Oregon child-welfare investigator discovered in 1984 that Murray sexually abused his foster son Jeff Simpson when he was a teenager.

Reacting to the new report in Seattle Times on Sunday, Farrell released a statement calling for mayor's resignation. The information "severely undermines our confidence in his ability to carry out the duties of his office," the former state representative said.

McGinn also tweeted Sunday responding to the report and said, "The time for denials and victim blaming is over." His comments were similar to the time in May when he had already called for Murray's resignation amid other sexual assault allegations.

Seattle City Council member Lorena Gonzalez on Monday asked Murray to consider resigning from his post after the investigation report had been revealed. In a statement, Gonzalez said she is "deeply concerned" and doubted the mayor's capability to lead after the disclosure of the documents.

"This situation is unprecedented in our city’s history," Gonzalez said in the statement. "We cannot pretend otherwise," she added, according to King5.

Gonzalez said if the mayor chose not to step down, she will plan to urge the City Council to decide by July 24 whether a change or a transition in the leadership is required.

"A collaborative approach is my preferred approach but the leadership of this city, including the mayor, must proceed in a manner that will balance the ongoing need to effectively govern while acknowledging the grave harm caused by proceeding with a status-quo mentality," Gonzalez said in the statement.

The Seattle Times reported the findings after three months following Oregon's Department of Human Services' discovery of old records which were thought to have been destroyed in April, at the newspaper's request. After the newspaper appealed to the department, it released several documents which it withheld previously and agreed to do so in public interest regarding the matter.

"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," Child Protective Services caseworker Judy Butler wrote in the May 1984 assessment, according to Seattle Times.

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In a written response to the newspaper Sunday, the mayor claimed the child welfare investigator had never interviewed him and that he and his attorneys were also not informed at that time about the findings. He also claimed that the allegations against him were entirely investigated but the prosecutors never brought any charges against him.

"That she believed Jeff’s claims at the time and advocated on his behalf is painful to see, but does not change the fact that, based on the totality of the evidence that was collected, the district attorney declined to file charges," Murray said.

However, the Seattle Times reported that the disclosed records revealed a Multnomah County prosecutor did not pursue charges because of Simpson’s troubled personality, and not because she thought the victim was lying.

"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 the report, according to Seattle Times.

Simpson told the newspaper on Sunday that he was happy the Oregon documents supported his claims against the mayor. "Wow, wow. Thank you, Jesus," he said.

Murray has previously faced similar allegations in April when a lawsuit filed by a Kent man said he had sexually assaulted him in the 1980s when he was a teenager. Two other men had also accused the mayor of sexual abuse during their teenage. Murray has denied all the allegations against him since then.