Perhaps northern Utah's windy weather overnight was actually the result of a giant sigh of relief coming from many officials and lawmakers in response to the report released Tuesday by the Salt Lake Organizing Committee's ethics panel. Nevertheless, Olympic critics are less than impressed by the findings and expect harsher judgments as other investigations are completed.
Here are comments generated by the ethics report:Bob Garff, SLOC chairman: "We won these Games fair and square in terms of the number of votes, even though there may be some small number questioned. We have no apology for our victory," Garff said -- nor any intention of reimbursing the cities that bid unsuccessfully against Salt Lake City.
Deedee Corradini, Salt Lake City mayor: "I was impressed with (the report's) voluminous nature and thoroughness, considering the limits under which the ethics panel was able to operate and very pleased that despite the fact that the panel indicated there were some people they were not able to interview for various reasons, their strong feeling was . . . that the report represented a complete picture of what happened. I think this now gives us an opportunity to make some decisions on what changes need to be made here and gives the IOC some indication of issues they need to look at further. . . ."
Frank Joklik, acting president of SLOC and former bid chairman: Asked if he felt he did anything wrong, Joklik said, "No, I do not . . . I do not see anything there (in the report) that would cause me to say I did anything wrong."
Glenn Bailey, Crossroads Urban Center and Salt Lake Impact 2002 & Beyond, a coalition speaking for low-income groups and minorities: "At this point, I'm pretty disappointed that we've spent all this time and energy looking at what's gone on with the Olympics and so little has changed. I don't think the governor's comments that we have to quit looking behind us show the gravity of the situation, and I don't think the SLOC investigation that's gone on so far has uncovered everything we need to know. I'm still looking for more resignations from the SLOC board. Despite the fact they've managed to make scapegoats of two people, it doesn't seem plausible . . . when they were working with a board of directors of some of the most powerful people in the state. It just doesn't make sense." Bailey expects the upcoming U.S. Justice Department probe to be more revelatory.
David Jordan, a member of the SLOC Board of Ethics: "We know some documents were destroyed," Jordan acknowledged. He said the ethics board was told that shortly after Salt Lake City won the 2002 Winter Games in 1995, an employee was told to get rid of three file drawers of correspondence from IOC members. The project was halted after an estimated dozen letters were destroyed. Other unspecified records with notes from the organizing committee's outside counsel were also destroyed.
Sen. Lane Beattie, R-West Bountiful, Utah Senate president: Commenting soon after the report's release, and without having seen a full copy yet, Beattie said Utah's lawmakers were grateful no major new allegations were raised. "It is still very grave and serious," he said, "but we hope that this is the beginning of the end of the scandal and that we can get on with the exciting part of what the Olympics are all about."
Rep. David M. Jones, D-Salt Lake, House minority leader: "There don't appear to be any big surprises here," Jones said. "However, in my opinion, we can have all the investigations we want, all the audits we want, all the ethics panels we want, but until we are ready to provide the public and the press access to the ongoing records and the inner dialogue of committee meetings, we really haven't accomplished anything." Jones noted that he has legislation before the House of Representatives that would require the SLOC, a public/private partnership "with an extraordinary ability to impact the fiscal welfare" of all Utah, but which has"breached that trust," to operate with an openness required by laws of state and local governments.
Stephen Pace, Utahns for Responsible Spending: "I think they are in absolute 100-percent cover-up mode in terms of the board," said Pace, a vocal Games critic. "And I think that's conscious on the part of the ethics investigators; that's not an accident."
John Krimsky, U.S. Olympic Committee deputy secretary general: The USOC plans to release the findings of its investigation into Salt Lake City's bid on March 1, in a public setting. "I would be surprised if there is a lot of new information," he said.
Randy Dryer, Salt Lake attorney, chairman of the Utah Sport Authority and a member of the SLOC board of trustees: "I was impressed by both the amount of detail and the thoroughness of the report, and I hope that it provides a much-needed catharsis, both for the SLOC and the community, to allow everyone to move on and get on with the business of preparing for the games."
Anita DeFrantz, International Olympic Committee vice president from the United States: DeFrantz said she was not aware of the questionable activities during the bidding process. "I knew everything you know right now today."
Staff writer Jerry Spangler contributed to this report.