E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Douglas C. Pizac / AP
Mitt Romney is shown in October 2001, when he was president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. On Saturday evening, Romney spoke at a celebration honoring the 10-year anniversary of the games.
Mitt Romney oversaw a wide-ranging lobbying campaign to snare tens of millions of dollars in federal earmarks for the Salt Lake City Olympic Games at a time critics were charging the games had become a prime example of out-of-control “pork barrel” spending, according to Senate lobbying records.
Romney’s role in overseeing the 2002 Olympics, long seen as a major political asset, is providing new fodder for political adversaries. The Democratic National Committee released an attack video Friday assailing him for running “the most expensive games in U.S. history.”
GOP rival Rick Santorum also accused Romney Saturday of "hypocrisy" for raising the issue of earmarks given his record at the Olympics. The Romney campaign responded that Santorum was "shooting himself in the foot" over the issue.
In recent weeks, Romney has portrayed himself as an uncompromising fiscal conservative and criticized Santorum for being a “strong defender” of federal earmarks. “Look, I’m in favor of a ban on earmarks,” Romney said during a recent interview on Sean Hannity’s television show. “I think spending in Washington is out of control.”
But Senate lobbying records show that the Salt Lake City Olympics Committee under Romney spent $3.5 million employing five lobbying firms in addition to its own in-house lobbying shop. Among their goals: winning federal earmarks that included $60 million for "perimeter" security; $15.8 million for "international sporting competitions"; $3 million for an extension of a Salt Lake City light rail project; as well as millions more for communications equipment, sewer projects and other programs aimed at supporting the Olympics.
The overall federal cost of the 2002 Olympics has been estimated at about $1.5 billion, although Romney defenders say much of this was put in place before he took over the Olympics Committee in 1999. But Romney later touted his efforts in his book about the Winter Olympics, “Turnaround,” writing that he directed his chief Washington lobbyist “to bring in more federal funding than had ever been appropriated for any Olympics, summer or winter.”
And he made his success in doing so a selling point when he ran for governor of Massachusetts in 2002. “I was successful in organizing the Olympics, got record funds from the federal government," he said then.
Santorum seized on Romney’s aggressive pursuit of the federal earmarks at a campaign appearance Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.
"He heroically bailed out the Salt Lake City Olympic Games by heroically going to Congress and asking them for tens of millions of dollars to bail out the Salt Lake Games -- in an earmark, in an earmark for the Salt Lake Olympic Games," he said. “Does the word hypocrisy come to mind?”
Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for the Romney campaign, responded: “Sometimes when you shoot from the hip, you end up shooting yourself in the foot. There is a pretty wide gulf between seeking money for post 9/11 security at the Olympics and seeking earmarks for polar bear exhibits at the Pittsburgh Zoo. Mitt Romney wants to ban earmarks. Senator Santorum wants more ‘Bridges to Nowhere’” — referring to a proposed bridge in Alaska that was canceled after it became a symbol of pork barrel spending.
Saul also said that “the majority of federal funds for the Salt Lake Games was for security purposes," and noted they took place "just months after months after 9/11," when "security was heightened.” She added: “Taxpayer support of the games was only 18 percent, enabled by Mitt Romney's ability to secure new corporate sponsorships to bring the taxpayer tab down."
Romney’s stewardship of the 2002 Winter Olympics is getting fresh scrutiny this weekend amid conflicting claims about his record. Romney flew back to Salt Lake City Friday for a campaign fundraiser -- co-hosted by his former chief Olympics deputy and attracting many leaders of the city’s business community. He also was participating Saturday evening in a gala civic celebration commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Games.
His campaign — and financial supporters — see Romney’s Olympics stewardship as a prime example of his leadership and management skills under fire. And they are hoping to make more of it: A media firm hired by Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney super PAC, also is in Salt Lake City this weekend to film footage about Romney and the Olympics for use in upcoming television ads.
Then the head of Bain Capital, Romney was recruited in 1999 to become president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, or SLOC, which ran the games, after it was engulfed in a bribery scandal that resulted in the loss of sponsors and a huge projected deficit.
“Mitt described it as stepping into an empty elevator shaft,” said Fraser Bullock, a former Bain Capital colleague who served as Romney’s No. 2 at the Salt Lake Olympics committee. “We were in deep trouble financially, operationally, morale-wise. It was about as difficult as you can imagine.” (Bullock co-hosted the Romney campaign fundraiser in Salt Lake City and has contributed $100,000 to the Romney Super PAC.)
Romney, Bullock says, engineered an “extraordinary turnaround” of the Olympics -- restoring confidence, tapping his business connections to bring in new corporate sponsors and slashing costs. In one of his more memorable moves, he put an end to the committee’s habit of catering lavish boardroom lunches, replacing them with Dominos’s pizzas.
“He bought a pizza for $5, cut it into eight slices, charged $1 dollar a slice,” said Bullock. “So we could make $8 for a pizza that cost $5 and have a profit of $3. That sent a great message throughout the entire organization that we would watch every penny.”
In the end, Romney is credited by supporters like Bullock with turning a projected $479 million deficit into a $100 million profit. But detractors charge he also used the games for self-promotion, even sanctioning official Olympic pins bearing his image with such captions as "We Love You, Mitt."
In turning around the 2002 games, Romney got a big helping hand from U.S. taxpayers. The federal government poured $1.5 billion into the Salt Lake games – more than twice the amount spent on any previous U.S. Olympics.
Republican Sen. John McCain called it a “fleecing” of the U.S. Treasury.
Santorum accuses Romney of hypocrisy on earmarks
“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 project for Salt Lake City and its environs.” McCain said in a Sept. 19, 2000, speech on the Senate floor.
Although Romney spokeswoman Saul asserted that a majority of federal funding for the Olympics was for security, McCain, in leveling his charges, relied on a General Accounting Office report that documented a litany of direct and indirect federal earmarks for the Salt Lake Olympics that had little if anything to do with security. Among them: $645 million for new highways and roads, including a repaved mountain road to the Snow Basin ski resort, owned by a wealthy local oilman. There was also hundreds of millions more for light rail, parking lots, bus rentals, sewer construction, housing for the news media and weather forecasting — in addition to $161 million for security (a figure that climbed even higher after 9/11.)
“I do not understand how we Republicans call ourselves conservatives and then treat the taxpayer dollars in this fashion,” McCain said in his 2000 speech. “This has to stop.”
Bullock, Romney’s chief deputy at the Olympics, disputed suggestions that there was any “federal bailout” of the Olympics and noted that most of the funding that critics objected to was planned “years before Mitt got there.” Former GOP Sen. Robert Bennett of Utah served on the Senate Appropriations Committee and is credited with inserting many of the Olympics earmarks.
But, as president of the Salt Lakes Organizing Committee, Romney fully embraced – and aggressively defended – the earmarks. In an Aug. 18, 2000, letter to the GAO, Romney called the Olympics “a massive undertaking” and added: “Recognizing that our government spends billions of dollars to maintain wartime capability, it is entirely appropriate to invest several hundred million dollars to promote peace.”
Leave a Comment:
romney is nothing but a vulture capitalist! everything he does is for mitt! EVERYTHING!
his bain capital destroyed companies, destroyed jobs and destroyed lives, and what was left got sent to communist china!
and, that my friends is what will happen if he gets his hands on our country!!!
There is a lot of ignorance showing in these answers. Romney did not bribe anyone. He was brought in AFTER a bribery scandal surfaced -- the organizers had bribed the International Olympic committee to award the Olympics to Salt Lake City and there was talk of yanking the Olympic games from Salt Lake City.
Romney came in and turned it around. The fed govt has always helped fund Olympics that are held in the USA. If you look at the funding for the Salt Lake City Olympics, about 90% of it went for increased security post-9/11. They took place 5 months after 9/11 at a time when we were fighting in Afghnistan and there was real fear of another attack. This was a national event.
If you want to read a true picture of Romney's wonderful accomplishments in rescuing the Salt Lake City Olympics, read stories from the time, not all the hit pieces that are coming out now for political reasons.
Here's the NYTimes writing that Romney "brought the Olympics back from a deficit and the stain of scandal, pulling it off despite security concerns that had some people urging him to cancel the Games after Sept. 11. Elevating the schmooze to an art form, he has broken the record for raising private money for the Olympics -- even more than Peter Ueberroth, who translated the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games into national prominence.
more contemporaneous articles:
Romney was drafted to take over the Salt Lake Organizing Committee in February 1999, at the height of the worst corruption scandal in Olympic history--the revelations that Salt Lake had won the 2002 Games by wooing IOC members and their relatives with more than $1 million in cash, gifts and favors.
Sponsors? Not much interested. Budget? Shot to hell. Morale? Low. Optimism? Not much.
In 20 short months, Romney--a venture capitalist and corporate turnaround artist--has cut costs, aggressively wooed new sponsors and sharply closed SLOC's budget gap.
A skilled politician, he has relentlessly pursued essential government funding for transit projects and for Games security. He also has made a point of cultivating constructive working relationships with anyone interested within the International Olympic Committee.
Yet he doesn't hang out in hotel bars with the IOC rank and file, and he has not hesitated to make it abundantly clear his view that sunshine is the best disinfectant for scandal, even when that has caused discomfort to some within the IOC.
Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) officials also intend to spend $6 million on local park-related projects, and Mitt Romney, the outgoing chief executive officer, recently ordered the committee not to draw down $10 million in federal funds long ago appropriated -- in effect giving that money back to the U.S. government.
Santorum's bridge to nowhere cost $450million or all the specific earmarks that he brought to companies that then turned around and donated money to his political campaign.
wait a minute. did that last line say something about "promote peace". is this article about john lennon or a republican ? i am confused and demand an explanation. soon as i get back from snow basin. we had some great snow this weekend here in utah. haha florida, you got none. whatever happened to jeb bush. you don't hear a lot about him anymore.
I think Christie stole his thunder.
Has Christie gone back to Iowa and straighten the people of Iowa out. Bluster is all Christie is.
Is First Read out of business? Where are the articles? Do they require some stimulus money? Nothing for two days.
I wonder who knew Romney to get the contracts. Follow the money.
Romney is a greedy bastard.
All the left wing nuts trying to claim the so called "ear marks" benefited Romney personally. EAR MARKS are something that members of congress slip into spending bills after they have been passed or inserted with any floor debate. Romney was neither a member of congress or in any political position. Santorum started using "ear marks" to cover up his own personal ear marks while a Senator.
The money for the Olympics were lobbied for up front and out in the open. There were no votes to be had that would benefit the members of congress.
Maybe those on the left should go back and see how many "ear marks" Senator Obama requested in his 3 years as a Senator, I believe it was over 300 million.
Let's face it, this is nothing but political BS. Romney was asked to take over the Olympics and I am sure he did not benefit financially. I suppose the left thinks we should have canceled the Olympics, as some people suggested.
So Santorum is a lefty because he criticizes Romney?
baldeagle11, Where did I say Santorum was a lefty? Republicans can criticize other republicans even if they are both moderate, conservative or liberal. I believe Romney to be more of a moderate, and Santorum is a social conservative, both are vying to be President. I do not like the tone of the campaign and believe they should be going after President Obama instead of each other.
they have to get past the other before going after Obama, he is next up for the winner
Buck, Yes, but they can get past each other without trying to tear each other apart. This is more bitter than what went on with Obama and Clinton. A note to both Romney and Santorum, show me why you are better than Obama, which I think both are. Quit using negative ads and quit calling each other names through your subordinates.
sfcret,
Where did the money come from that paid for the , "We Like Mitt buttons". I saw quite a few of those buttons.
As I recall the SLC Olympics were a great success. If I were Romney, I would be PROUD of my (political) contribution to that cause. Had he NOT been so effective as a politician in getting those funds, he would be considered a failure, and the unfunded portion laid at his feet by his political enemies. When it comes to political enemies, ANY action will be spun against you...Better to be judged harshly for your successes than dismissed contemptuously for your failure!
All else being the same, I want a President who is NOT a failure. One that UNDERSTANDS the business world, and is SUCCESSFUL in his ventures. It's funny that the Left sees success as a symptom of corruption...perhaps they are used to their own success springing from that same well?
As reported in this news item, Romney proved his effectiveness as a politician by earmarking so much money to be used in the Utah games. Those federal funds were paid for by the US tax payer.
Romney spent a fortune on lobbying to get this money. I've never understood lobbying (by either party). What a lobbyist does is to wine and dine a lesiglator and pour corporate propaganda into his ear. He schmoozes the politician. He makes promises of support in the next election.
In some other fields this would be known as "bribery" although in Washington it's not just legal but has become as essential to success in the private sector as the telephone.
Between 2000 and 2008, spending on lobbyists more than doubled. And the Citizens United decision of last year opened the flood gates for unlimited secret contributions to Superpacs that increase even more the amount of money flowing into campaigns and projects like the Olympics.
And, by the way, among the top 20 spenders on lobbying, not a single union is represented. The greatest spender by far is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which outspent the next in line (the AMA) by more than double.
http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2009/08/spending-on-lobbying-doubled-from-2000.html
The link leads to a blog by a conservative economist at the University of Michigan.
Maybe the time is coming when we should all look up the meaning of the word "plutocracy" in the dictionary.
If there is an upside to this affair, it's that much of the money was used to create jobs that improved the infrastructure of the area.
Michael,
I'm a Republican that also wants to see success. Only I don't wish to see a president already worth $250 million. I judge people by how they can relate to the average American. Believe me, Mitt Rommey can't relate to the average American. And his wife who puts on her aires, she tries to seem like an average Jane, but her time among the rich will not allow her to present herself as being average. We need Rommey as much as we need a Rockefeller.
Can you imagine if Obama ran the 2002 Olympics? It would've cost us $4.5 billion in taxpayers' money instead of $1.5 billion because he would've insisted on using all union labor at three times the price, and would've had a huge deficit instead of a surplus like Romney was able to deliver.
I guess we're lucky the Community Organizer in Chief failed in his pathetic attempt to get the 2016 Olympics for his corrupt buddies in Chicago. Everything he touches turns to crap.
bush took us from a surplus to a 5.3 trillion deficit and we will be cutting checks for irag,afgan and medicare part d for many many years.those three items.when you add in the 1.3 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthy much of the current deficit is accounted for. additionally in the first 6 months of 2009 we lost 4.3 million jobs and we are still supporting those unfortunate people.facts can be painfull things
The Olympics are attended and watched by people around the world. If we want them to have a favorable impression of the U.S., it seems extra spending to polish the nation's image is well worth it.
why is romney using trump . i thought trump registered as an independent.that seems unusual having a high profile independent campaigning for republican presidential race.is he not the guy who had a debate and romney did not show up
He'd most likely have Trump as his running mate. Now the rich would be at the top or would they?
No problem for Romney. He has eight positions on every issue.
Isn't it time to begin looking forward rather that always backwards. I know the argument that what someone did in the past is indicative of what he or she will do in the future. But I think we carry this maxim too far. People change. Situations change. Roles change.
What was wrong with Romney being an advocate for the Salt Lake Olympics? Surely we should not have expected or wanted any less. People are going to use the tools (including financing) available to achieve an objective. Isn't that exactly what we want from him today. To be an advocate for the average U.S. citizen. To use the political process to achieve change in Washington.
I hope we begin to look at the future more and the past a little less. The past is just that. The future is what lies in front of us.
You say he should use his "tools" including financing. That is not what his voters want. They want him to use tools that don't include any sort of financing.
So if he can't make things work without throwing money at it, he shouldn't be your nominee.
Santorum all the way to the general...then Obama all the way back to the White House.
Tom,
You'll remain mystified if you really believe money doesn't seek more money. Rommey being the multi- millionaire he is has not changed one iota in 15 years. he has in fact become more greedy than ever. It's inbred within him and all overs like him including the Trumps of the world. Here is a man that hasn't drawn a paycheck in years. A man living off of investments and paying a tax rate of 13.8% Now he wants the taxpayer to take care of him and his family. I'd vote for a Chimp before I'd vote for him.
Drakkar - that chimp comment says everything about YOU and nothing about potential candidates
Willard "turned around" the Olympics by getting a huge federal bail out. LOL.
Where were you libtards when Sen. Byrd was blowing BILLIONS of our tax dollars on a road to nowhere? You and the libtard media basehd Palin for the bridge to nowhere that never began.
Here, we have Sen. Byrd, labeled the "pork barrel king" getting earmarks for a road to nowhere. It's supposed to connect W. VA to V but VA has no intention to spending any money to connect the highway. So $1.5BILLION DOLLARS and no left wing media outlet wanted to run THIS story especially when Byrd got another $350MILLION from the "stimulus" bill that went exactly to where the highway is going...F'N NO WHERE!
You libtards and msnbc are just hypocritical slime balls.
TOM SCHATZ, CITIZENS AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE: This road, according to plans, will take 66 years to complete. So far, it's been 40 years and $1.5 billion, and it's supposed to be another 26 years and another $125 billion
lest we forget Johnson's constant use of military jets to ferry Texas brewed beer to his Washington DC bbq, of Kennedy using taxpayer property to fulfill his sexual fantacies.I guess I could throw Clinton in this as well!
Yet one more tool to help educate people about the candidates based on their RECORDS, not what a biased media wants you to believe:
election4uspresident2012.weebly.com
Please use it. Thanks!
Oh come ON - Democratic National Committee!!
Obama runs the MOST EXPENSIVE Government in US History - spending three $$ for every two it raises and you want to slam a successful Olympic games, that had no security problems, and brought great credit to America for POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY
I am sure there are things that Romney and Obama deserve to be attacked over - raising funds from all sources to rescuscitate a dead Olympics is NOT one of them
You might of thought that the first black President would have been a great chance to bridge the gulf between races in tis country.But not so,this is worst race relationships has been in 30 years.Is that all the fault of the Repubs? Are the Dems at fault?Are all whites secret rascict begging for the Presidents failure?I think not!I think it is a combinationm of factions on both sides refusing to give ground an admit there have been some good and some bad things for which this administration is responsible.Personally,I believe,unlike Clinton,Obama misssed is chance to be an adequate President by refusing to move, the slightlest, to the middle.I believe he is a left wing idiolog ,with no conscience, with regards to what damage he may be cauing the Nation as a whole.Only time not rhetorics will tell.God Bless America!
Drakker2! Who would you prefer for a candidate? I bet you would like one of your ilk with zero experience running anything but their mouth. How about another socialist? That worked out great in Greece,Spain,France and Italy,didn't it!You are just a lazy prick who has never done anything with your political science degree because no one needs your lazy ass in the organization pissing on the walls! Find a job teaching,work 25 years and soak the public for your retirement and health care forever!Piss off!
Too bad you can't save the US economy by ordering pizza. Really? Is that all Willard has? No wonder the wing nut is beating him. 1.5 billion taxpayer dollars for the freakin Winter Olympics. You have to be kidding me.
LOL,,,wonder how many more $10k bets he's made ?
Drakker2: If you are a republican,im a goat!Maybe a RINO but that is as close ae you get a republican short of going to rally.As I said before,get a teachers job,join the socialist union ,work 20-25 years and grab your lifetime pension,social security,medical benefits for life and go to more dem rallies!When we are broke, you will still be collecting on our dime!Bet a nut you have a political science degree if you got out of high school.No wait...social studies!What fukk is that any way.Probable used this site for credit!
Mr. Romney's flip-flopping on federal subsidies for athletics in Salt Lake City, Utah and against federal subsidies for the vital automotive industry in Detroit, Michigan is explained by religious bias.
A federal subsidy to build out Salt Lake City, the Jerusalem of the Mormons, benefitting the "chosen", predominantly Mormon population is okay with Mr. Romney. But to hell with a federal subsidy to rescue the worthless "others" in the Detroit, Michigan automotive industry.
Romney is DOA,,the Right don't even want him. The party is begging for someone to come in so they have at least one more flavor of the week. Sanatarium Rick is saying everything and anything to appear opposite of Romney and in doing so he has lost the Female and independent voter and he's working on losing the GOP base for being so far right he may fall off the edge. The GOP is in deep dodo and they know it but can't do a thing about it,,they cast this circus all by themselves, one would think they would be tired of being on the Wrong Side after after awhile.
Come to think of it now, Romney did borrow money for I think it was beefed up security, you mean he couldn't get private sector donations to fund it?? He needed government money, maybe he isn't the 'CONSERVATIVE" he claims to be, maybe he's just another politician like the rest of them. Reagan didn't balance his budgets, and they think he's a GOD so, how would Romney be any better than Obama??
Romney is a more attractive, younger McCain. Santorum is an interventionist, military junkie. Newt Gingrich has the character of a.....hmm well, a person who cheats on two of their last 3 wives. And then there is Ron Paul; an ideologically consistent congressman, who wants a limited federal gov't, and champions personal liberty. Ron Paul 2012!
as per usual, spending is "out of control" when its a democrat. but not when its a republican... go two sides willard! right on cue!