PROVO -- A member of the board of trustees of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee said he is "sick at heart" for the taint the Olympic bid scandal has placed on the people of Salt Lake City and Utah.
"The bid process fostered corruption possibilities," said Spencer F. Eccles, First Security Bank chairman and chief executive officer.He said trustees delegated day-to-day management of the process to others and those people "succumbed to the siren song of corruption where the end seemed to justify the means."
Those involved in the daily process became so adept at blurring the truth, deceiving, concealing and outright lying that six audits by inside and outside auditors failed to find any wrongdoing, Eccles said.
"They have failed us," he said.
Eccles' comments can in an impromptu, candid and somewhat emotional speech to his bank's customers in Utah County at their annual banquet Monday. He said he hopes his bank "speaks for itself in the ethics department."
The Ogden native and former downhill skier said he is a zealous Olympic fan and became eager to see the Games in Utah when the idea first surfaced in the 1980s.
"It's the highest ideal for athletes," Eccles said.
As a businessman, he also concluded hosting the Olympics would be beneficial for Utah, both financially and culturally.
"I thought it would be good for the economic development of the state," Eccles said. "I thought it would be an opportunity to tell Utah's story to the world right just once."
He admitted the bid process is flawed but said the blame does not all lie with Salt Lake City's effort.
Eccles is confident the many ethics investigations will resolve the matter, but hopes Utahns can avoid a rush to judgment since those inquiries will take time.
He called the happenings of last Friday a good start. That is when SLOC President Frank Joklik and vice president of Games Dave Johnson resigned. No successors have yet been named.
After the investigations, Eccles said, Utah needs to focus on putting on the best Winter Olympics ever.
Earlier in the scheduled portion of the banquet, Kelly Matthews, First Security's chief economist, pointed out the importance of the 2002 Winter Olympics to Utah's economy over the next three years.
He said between 1997 and 2001, construction of Olympics-related facilities could generate approximately $700 million in building activity.