SEATTLE _ A man who recently filed, and then withdrew a lawsuit that claimed Seattle Mayor Ed Murray sexually abused him decades ago now wants $1 million to $3 million from the city, contending that Murray used his public office to defame him.
According to his claim, Delvonn Heckard, is seeking damages for harm he says he experienced when Murray, "utilizing and abusing his position of power" as mayor "falsely and defamatorily accused Mr. Heckard, a gay man, of participating in an anti-gay right wing conspiracy along with other victims including Jeff Simpson and Lloyd Anderson."
The claim, submitted Wednesday by Heckard's attorney, Lincoln Beauregard, contends that Murray's private lawyers and personal spokesman participated in defamation "during various press conferences over a period of months."
"It was recently confirmed that there was no conspiracy and Mayor Murray fabricated these allegations for political gain and in order to silence Mr. Heckard, and other victims," the claim says.
Benton Strong, the mayor's spokesman, declined to comment Thursday, directing questions to Julie Moore, a spokeswoman for the city's finance department. Moore said later that the city doesn't comment on open claims investigations.
Murray, a longtime politician and gay-rights champion, has denied the allegations by Heckard and three other men who have made similar abuse accusations this year. The mayor, at times, has asserted the allegations were somehow coordinated and driven by lawyers or others targeting his politics.
"I was the leading gay figure, the leading LGBT figure in the state for almost 20 years (and) under constant attack from the far right," Murray said this month.
Filed in April, Heckard's lawsuit alleged that Murray paid him for sex multiple times, starting when Heckard was a 15-year-old drug addict in the late 1980s.
Simpson and Anderson _ who both met Murray in the late 1970s when they lived at a Portland group home for children_also separately allege that Murray sexually exploited them as teens in the 1980s. Lavon Jones, a friend of Heckard's who lives in Seattle, contends that Murray twice paid him for sex, when he was a teen prostitute hooked on drugs in the 1980s. All of Murray's accusers have acknowledged serious criminal and drug histories and dispute that politics is driving their claims.
Heckard, the only accuser to sue Murray, has said he doesn't know Simpson or Anderson and never conspired with either man. He made his allegations public after his father died and he sought counseling for his problems, he said.
Simpson, of Gladstone, Ore., and Anderson, of Navarre, Fla., have separately said they don't know Heckard. Simpson has said that Ken Hutcherson, the late Christian minister and gay-rights opponent, was among reporters, lawmakers and others he contacted in 2008 when trying to make his accusations public after giving up on pursuing a lawsuit.
"I did it so Ed could be held accountable, not just for me but for the other children that he did this to," Simpson said this year.
Fallout from the scandal led Murray to announce in May he wouldn't seek a second term and would leave politics once his mayoral term expires at year's end.
In June, Heckard dropped his lawsuit, saying he planned to refile it in January after Murray leaves office. Murray quickly held a news conference at City Hall, where, with staff members by his side, he declared vindication, contending the decision to withdraw the lawsuit proved he'd been the victim of a "political takedown."
If the city denies his claim, Heckard could sue the city.
This month, The Seattle Times obtained records from Oregon's Department of Human Services showing that a child-welfare investigator concluded in 1984 that Murray raped and otherwise sexually abused Simpson before and while he lived with Murray as a foster son in the 1980s. The administrative findings led officials to assert Murray should never again be certified as a foster parent in Oregon.
Murray was not charged with a crime. A prosecutor withdrew a criminal case against Murray and another foster parent Simpson accused of abuse, because of problems the teenager presented in proving the allegations, but not because she thought Simpson was lying, the records also show.
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(Jim Brunner contributed to this report.)
