Romney has an unjustifiable ego.
...Actually, tangible economic benefits are elusive. (click title to entry - thank you) The 1984 Los Angeles Olympics are often hailed for finishing with a $233 million surplus. But Barney says the calculation includes only direct costs of staging the games and not the indirect costs provided by city, state and federal governments. The same is true, he says, for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary in Alberta, Canada, and the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City (click here). Organizers of both games claimed multimillion-dollar surpluses, but neither included massive federal spending when adding up costs....
And what an Olympics it was:
OLYMPICS; Settlements Issued In Bribery Scandal (click here)
Published: September 12, 2002The two bid leaders at the center of the 2002 Winter Olympics bribery scandal received financial settlements more than three years after being forced off the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.
Tom Welch, president of the bid and organizing committees, was paid $1 million, Fraser Bullock, president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, said yesterday. Bullock would not say how much was given to Dave Johnson, who was forced from his $200,000-a-year job as senior vice president in January 1999 after the bid scandal broke.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported yesterday that Johnson received $200,000. Johnson and his lawyer would not confirm that.
In return, Welch and Johnson agreed not to sue the organizing committee and trustees who blamed the two men for the scandal....
02/13/2002 - Updated 03:12 PM ET
SALT LAKE CITY — I've been defending figure skating for years. Defending it against my numerous sportswriting colleagues who say it really isn't a sport. Defending its judges. Defending its arcane ways. Generally, defending everything.
I can't defend it anymore.
Not after what happened Monday night in the pairs competition at the Olympic Games. Not after the most flawed decision I have witnessed in 14 years of covering this sport. Not after what is looking like a decision that possibly was decided before Jamie Sale and David Pelletier skated one of the great performances in Olympic history, only to have the gold medal taken from them by five misguided people on the nine-person judging panel....
Ski touring with the Olympic Games of 2002 (click here)
The tests of ski touring of the Olympic Games of Salt Lake City are disturbed by doping. Indeed, three winners will be convinced of doping and will be relieved of their titles. It is about Spanish Johann Mühlegg, Russian Larissa Lazutina and Olga Danilova....
Born: 22 May 1982
Birthplace: Seattle, Washington
Best known as: The gold-medal speedskater who won "Dancing With the Stars"
Apolo Anton Ohno is the short-track speedskater whose eight Winter Olympic medals are more than any other American in history. Ohno won his first gold medal in 1500-meter short track speedskating at the 2002 Winter Olympics. (The win was controversial; Ohno moved up to first after apparent winner South Korean Kim Dong-Sung was disqualified.)...
Safety and Security Services
Department of Defense - $24.6 million
Health and Human Services - $9.5 million
Department of Justice - $47 million
Treasury Department - $58.7 million
FEMA - $6.1 million
Planning Services and Forest Improvements
Forest Service - $16.2 million
Transportation, Transit Improvements - Planning and Construction
Transportation (DOT) - $83.3 million
The 2002 Olympics never made a profit. It added considerably to the national debt. Romney needs to 'drop it' and leave the accolades to the athletes where it always belongs.
2002 Olympics to Cost US Taxpayers $1.3 Billion
Senator McCain on the GAO ReportOn Sept. 19, 2000, Sen. McCain, speaking in opposition to the Conference Report on the 2001 Legislative Branch Appropriations bill advised the Senate of details from the GAO's report. As recorded in the Congressional Record, Sen. McCain stated,
"The GAO now determines that $1.3 billion--and some of those I will read: $974,000 for the Utah State Olympic Public Safety Command; $5 million for the Utah Communications Agency Network; $3 million to Olympic Regional Development Authority, upgrades at Mt. Van Hoevenberg Sports Complex; $2.5 million, Salt Lake City Olympics bus facilities; $2.5 million, Salt Lake City Olympics regional park-and-ride lots; $500,000, Salt Lake City Olympics transit bus loan, and on and on; $925,000 to allow the Utah State Olympic Public Safety Command to continue to develop and support a public safety program for the 2002 Winter Olympics; $1 million for the 2002 Winter Olympics security training; $2.2 million for the Charleston Water Conservancy District, UT, to meet sewer infrastructure needs associated with the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. What the Olympic games supposedly hosted and funded by Salt Lake City, which began in corruption and bribery, has now turned into is an incredible pork-barrel for Salt Lake City and its environs." -- Sen. John McCain in the United States Senate, Sept. 19, 2000 - [Page 58731-58748 - Congressional Record.
Safety and Security Services
Department of Defense - $24.6 million
Health and Human Services - $9.5 million
Department of Justice - $47 million
Treasury Department - $58.7 million
FEMA - $6.1 million
Planning Services and Forest Improvements
Forest Service - $16.2 million
Transportation, Transit Improvements - Planning and Construction
Transportation (DOT) - $83.3 million
The 2002 Olympics never made a profit. It added considerably to the national debt. Romney needs to 'drop it' and leave the accolades to the athletes where it always belongs.
