Utahns are evenly divided over whether Tom Welch's troubles while head of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee hurt the city's image as host of the 2002 Winter Games.
The latest Deseret News poll by Dan Jones and Associates found that 42 percent of the Utahns questioned believe his problems hurt the image somewhat, while 44 percent believe they had no impact."People have been very interested in what's happened but really have not decided," Jones said. "They're just not sure what impact it's going to have - they'll be watching."
What they're waiting to see is how Olympic organizers handle Welch's sudden resignation as president and chief executive officer of the organizing committee.
Welch, the man credited with bringing the Olympics to Utah, quit his job Tuesday and agreed to serve as a consultant to the organizing committee. Two days later, he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of domestic abuse.
His court appearance came after the statewide poll of 305 Utahns was conducted July 29 and 30. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.5 percent.
But Jones said it probably wouldn't have affected the results. "Utahns are very forgiving. They'd like this to end and for (the Welch family) to get on with their lives," he said pollsters were told during the survey.
Welch agreed. "For the intensity of the coverage surrounding what should have been a personal family matter, this will disappear very quickly from the public screen. And that is how it should be," he said.
The poll also found that just over one-third of Utahns surveyed thought Welch's leaving his post had no influence on Salt Lake City's hosting the Games.
About a quarter of those polled thought the influence would be positive and 22 percent thought it would be negative. The poll found little change in support for the Olympics, with just over 60 percent in favor of having the Games in Utah.
Welch ended up in court after his wife told police he restrained and bruised her during a July 9 argument in their home over his relationship with another woman.
He left a few days after the incident for a planned hunting trip in Africa with one of his sons. By the time he returned on July 24, the incident had attracted international attention.
Welch denied ever hitting his wife and acknowledged only "emotional ties" to the other woman. He stepped down, citing the effect of "the unfounded charges and allegations which have been widely reported in the media."
The story isn't over yet, though. A meeting of the organizing committee's board of trustees will be held in the next few weeks to approve a $2 million compensation package for Welch.
The package, endorsed by the board's executive committee last week, would give Welch $10,000 a month for serving as a consultant, plus up to $500,000 in retirement benefits.
He'd also get $1 million as a reward for the six years he headed the city's Olympic effort as an unpaid volunteer. Welch began earning a salary in 1995 and was making $325,000 a year when he resigned.
The salary package could change how Utahns feel about Welch's impact on the image of the 2002 Winter Games, Jones said. "My guess is, it would go more negative," the pollster predicted.
At least one lawmaker thinks so, too. Rep. Jordan Tanner, R-Provo, said he received a half-dozen calls about the compensation package. "It really was the money that got the phone ringing," Tanner said.
Constituents "expressed disgust at the amount of money being thrown around by the organizing committee," he said. "This is going to have a very, very negative impact."
Tanner, co-chairman of the Legislature's Sports Advisory Committee, said lawmakers won't be sym-pa-thet-ic if Olympic organizers end up having to ask for help paying for the Winter Games.
State and local taxpayers have spent $59 million in tax dollars building Olympic facilities, including a bobsled and luge run at the Utah Winter Sports Park near Park City.
Olympic organizers intend to repay that investment from their $1 billion budget and create a $40 million endowment fund to keep the facilities open after the Winter Games.
The only tax dollars anticipated in the Olympic budget are from the federal government. The rest of the money is coming from corporate sponsors, television networks and other private sources.
Nolan Karras, a former Utah House speaker who represents Gov. Mike Leavitt on the organizing committee's board of trustees, said it is understandable the public might be worried about the budget.
"The public can be concerned because the public is the guarantor," Karras said, referring to the state's decision years ago to indemnify Salt Lake City against any losses from hosting the Olympics.
But Karras said he and other Olympic organizers are working hard to see that doesn't happen. He said he expects Welch to bring in more money from his contacts with potential sponsors than he'll earn from his consulting contract.
As for the total compensation package, Karras said that if organizers "put on the Olympics within budget, then it's an inside impact (on the budget), not a taxpayer impact."
Welch is being replaced for the time being by Frank Joklik, chairman of the board of trustees. When the board meets, it will decide how to go about searching for a permanent replacement.
Such changes in leadership are not unusual for an organizing committee, members of the International Olympic Committee said. For example, organizers of the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia, are on their third leader.
"There's quite often a lot of turnover," said Dick Pound, an IOC vice president from Canada, citing recent Olympics including the 1994 Winter Games in Lil-le-hammer, Norway and the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary, Canada.
"Nobody's indispensable," Pound said.
Anita DeFrantz, who also sits on the IOC's executive board, said Welch's reasons for leaving the organizing committee are not an issue now that he's resigned.
What's important, DeFrantz said, is that the issue was resolved quickly. "That's what's important for the athletes of the world, to know that the Games will happen in 2002."
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Deseret News Poll
Tom Welch, president of the Olympic Planning Committee, resigned for for personal reasons. Do you think Welch's leaving will have a positive or negative influence on Salt Lake City's hosting the games in
Positive 26%
Makes no difference 36%
Negative 22%
Don't know 16%
To what degree do you feel Tom Welch's problems have hurt the image of Salt Lake City as a host of the 2002 Winter Games?
Hurt a geat deal 8%
Hurt somewhat 42%
Had no impact 44%
Don't know 7%
This poll of 305 Utah residents was conducted by Dan Jones & Associates July 29-30. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.