When news of the Mayor's scandal broke, I found myself in a morning news meeting wondering more about who the young man at the center of the scandal is. Who was he and why did he find himself in the middle of all of this? It was brought to my attention that he worked as a leasing agent at "The Wyatt" in the Pearl District and at that moment, something clicked.
I had met Beau Breedlove when I first got the job at KGW when my mother and I drove from Arizona in late August. I needed a place to live quickly, and I was hearing rumblings that I should try this place. We were ushered in and we were introduced to a very attractive man. We were on a budget for an apartment, so he was looking through our options, and we went on a tour of a few apartments we may want to rent. I wasn't looking for a studio, I needed a one bedroom, and so it didn't feel like a good fit.
At the end of our tour, our guide asked us to sit down and fill out a form. It was then and there when I saw his card and was struck by his name. I looked at my mother and said, "Is this his real name?" After all, I'm in television news, where people make up their names every day. We walked out, thinking I'd never hear that name, Beau Breedlove again. I was wrong.
When the scandal broke, my boss came to me and asked me to find Mr. Breedlove. We did, on the street outside the Wyatt, where I ran up to him, cameras rolling, and asked him a couple questions about his relationship with the Mayor.
We got the "money shot" but, for me, it wasn't enough. I still didn't know much about him, what drew him to the Mayor. Was it the power? Was it a casual fling? There were so many questions that were still unanswered.
Fast forward to a weekend where I had left yet another message on his cell phone. "This is Anne Yeager, I'd love to sit down and talk to you."
I started texting him, something that has proven to be a useful networking tool when people just don't feel like talking. Then, I received an answer, that politely said leave me alone. I kept pursuing it. Where are you going to be tomorrow? Can we go hiking together? Can our dogs play together? NO.
So I did what, if you ask my friends and co-workers would think was an impossibility, I did nothing. And I waited. The next night I asked him if we could talk. And then my phone rang. Beau Breedlove asked that we meet for lunch the very next day and we did.
I waited at a restaurant nearby. At 12:00 sharp, he showed up, the very man I first met months before. We started talking and, in my clumsy attempts at humor, he realized he had met me before. Suddenly we made a connection. I am a rare breed, where typically I don't eat lunch. I don't know why, perhaps it drives me more during my day, maybe I fantasize about a larger dinner, whatever. I noticed he was a very picky eater, he ordered a teriyaki steak bowl with the teriyaki sauce on the side, everything protein. When his meal arrived, he meticulously cut his lunch in small, almost tiny bites. He kept cutting, and that really struck me. He was accustomed to details in his meal. Perhaps in a moment of nervousness, he started eating the bread bowl, only to tell me that he doesn't eat bread.
We connected and then I asked him if he would talk to me on camera, no questions I couldn't ask, no topics off the table, and to my pleasant surprise, he agreed. He wanted me to mention that he was involved in the Pixie Project, a local non-profit where unwanted dogs are placed in loving homes. We were to meet that night. The deal was done.
In my business, I could nail down an interview and when the time drew near, I would get a call that my interview subject had cold feet, he had met with a lawyer, who didn't think it was a good idea. My colleagues told me that call would come.
It never did. A half hour late, with his dog by his side, Beau Breedlove, the man at the center of it all, showed up to our offices at KGW. He seemed fearless. I asked him, in excruciating detail, uncomfortable questions. I couldn't help but think, do I want someone to ask me about my sex life, each detail in slow motion.
This, however, was far different. This was a man who could take down the highest elected official in the city of Portland. He is at the center of an investigation involving an attorney general who has taken down the mob. If it was determined that Breedlove, at the age of 17, was sexually excited by his encounters with Adams, a political career could be over.
I sat with him for one hour, asked him every question I could think of, and at the end, he walked out into the night. He wasn't your average 21-year-old man. He was smart, he was focused, and I couldn't help but wonder whether he knew what he was getting himself into. Not at 17, but now.