With Frank Joklik and Dave Johnson's quick exit from the Salt Lake Olympic scene Friday morning, two new slots open up.
Who's going to get them?Gov. Mike Leavitt and House Speaker Marty Stephens say the top job -- Joklik's president position -- should go to a Utahn.
"In fact, I and a lot of other (state officials) will be disappointed if the president (of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee) isn't a Utahn. They are our Games to put on (in 2002), and we should be represented there," Stephens said.
His sentiments were echoed by SLOC board members Ken Bullock and Nolan Karras. The U.S. Olympic Committee wants the 2002 Winter Games to stay in the hands of a Utahn, also. "Frank Joklik's successor should come from the state of Utah," USOC President Bill Hybl said Friday.
Joklik announced Friday that a new post, chief operating officer, will be created at SLOC. Joklik, age 70, will stay on as president and CEO until a new president is named. Johnson served as a senior vice president at SLOC. It's unclear if that title will be refilled.
SLOC board chairman Robert Garff said he believes an international search should be made for the new top SLOC positions.
That's fine, says Stephens and others interviewed by the Deseret News.
But the top job -- president and CEO -- should still go to a Utahn.
It's the second slot -- the COO -- that could go to a non-Utahn, someone with some national or international experience in putting together major events, sporting or not, or who otherwise has a distinguished record in major business operations.
"If we can get the COO on quickly, then we can take our time -- a month or more -- to pick the president and CEO," said Karras. "A history of Olympic Games shows you run through CEOs a couple of times before you actually put on the Games. It's kind of the nature" of the animal, Karras said.
Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, called on SLOC to find a new chief of the highest stature possible to restore confidence and credibility.
To illustrate, he recounted how a Salt Lake City mayor was once forced out of office. To fill the vacancy, "The city turned to one of my relatives, John M. Wallace, president of Walker Bank . . . a Salt Lake businessman of impeccable integrity. And, frankly, socially being mayor was a step down for John M. Wallace."
Bennett said that brought instant credibility. "We need to find someone of that stature to step into the Olympics now to restore credibility and to give us the kind of exhilaration and excitement and celebration that the Olympics should be for Utah."
One name that's being discussed for the chief operating officer's job is Roger Jackson. Jackson helped run the successful 1988 Winter Games in Calgary, Canada, and is on the IOC commission overseeing 2002.
Leavitt has an official position on SLOC's board of directors -- the ultimate group who will pick the new president and COO. Karras, a former speaker of the Utah House, is Leavitt's permanent appointee to the board.
The whole SLOC board picks the president/CEO, said Karras. But he imagines Leavitt and others will have some influence in the matter.
That has been witnessed this week -- with Leavitt working hard behind the scenes with U.S. Olympic Committee members, SLOC leading board members and others -- the governor has, at least temporarily, stepped into a power vacuum at SLOC.
Who does Leavitt like for top SLOC jobs?
He declined to name names Friday. "We have to all step back and catch our breath," Leavitt said.
However, other state leaders involved in the situation say that Leavitt likes an old friend and aide for the president's job -- Charlie Johnson.
Johnson, 62, oddly enough, now serves as vice chairman of the board of Garff's far-flung automobile dealerships. He was Leavitt's chief of staff during the governor's first term in office and before that served as former GOP-Gov. Norm Bangerter's budget director. Johnson also serves now as chairman of the Board of Regents, the governing body over the state's colleges and universities.
"The governor is partial to Charlie," said one GOP legislative leader who asked his name not be used. Leavitt and others "have a lot of confidence in him."
Johnson said he isn't interested but is flattered. "I'm satisfied where I am (at Garff Enterprises)," Johnson said Friday night.
"If Charlie will take the job and is on the final list, he would be a great choice," Karras said Friday afternoon. Karras' name has also come up, but he flatly refused to even consider it. "You have to please people, and I'm not so good at that -- no, I would never do it," said Karras, who heads his own financial investment/business management firm.
"The (top person) must know Utah," Karras said. "I don't care if he moved away for a while. But he must know us and our culture. We're not going to have a stranger from New York. Now, the COO -- the guy who can run day-to-day (Games) can be from France for all I care, just so he can do the job."
Johnson, a certified public accountant by profession, is a quiet man who doesn't get flustered easily. "This SLOC scandal has really shaken the governor. It's probably the toughest thing he's had to deal with" in six years in office, said one state leader.
Utah has been running record state surpluses in the 1990s, teachers haven't struck, there's been no natural disasters -- in short, Leavitt has led a charmed time as governor. Until now, at least.
Friday, a stern-faced Leavitt promised Utahns and the world that the bribery scandal that has rocked the Olympic movement and SLOC is not indicative of Utahns at all. He said SLOC and Utah will recover and put on honest, top-flight wonderful Games in 2002.
"This has been a hard week. I'm glad this part of it is over. But we still have a lot to do," Leavitt said. The governor said he has played a higher-profile role this week but doesn't necessarily believe he will in the weeks ahead. "We have a very capable (SLOC) board. I'll do my part, and my role has yet to be defined."
Karras, who admits a bias for Leavitt and his administration, said: "In my mind, this has been the governor's best performance. (Leavitt administration officials) have been working on this problem all through the holidays. We had to wait until the governor got back into town (from the holidays) last Monday. But then things moved very quickly. He took charge. The USOC asked to become involved, and we did that."
No one has been settled on yet to replace Joklik, another state leader said.
Other names include Jon Huntsman Jr., a former U.S. ambassador and son of Utah industrialist Jon Hunstman Sr.; Karras; Scott Parker, who just retired as head of Intermountain Health Care; former presidential aide Steven Studdert, who is known for organizing large events, like presidential inaugurations; Dave Checketts, former Jazz executive who now runs Madison Square Garden and several others.
A spokesman for Checketts, reached at his Madison Square Garden office in New York City, said Checketts was not commenting on reports he might be interested in the SLOC job.
The spokesman said Checketts did not want to fuel further speculation that he's willing to consider the job. "I've probably heard 20 names (floated) this past week," said one legislative leader. "But Charlie's always comes up. I can assure you there are no stealth candidates -- no one's name is being withheld because they're the real pick, and we just don't want to talk about it yet," he said.
Deseret News staff writer Lee Davidson contributed to this report.