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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:
Well, Romney's support and then denial speaks volumes. What ever way the wind blows. Blows being the general sentiment.
Santorum? Do you like him?
Gringrich? Surprisingly the most truthful.
Obama? Actually doing something.
So what do we do?
Largest olympic budget using taxpayer funds for his corporate sponsor friends and he is a fiscal conservative ,why?
Is it because , like his Cayman island accounts, the US taxpayer is left holding the bill?
I think Mitt is a competent business leader and have no problem with him becoming some companies CEO or going back into venture capital. Would he make a good president? I have trouble with someone who says he's not worried about the poor or seems so out of touch with mainstream America. It bothers me that he can't admit he was wrong about the auto bail out which reminds me of how Bush could never admit to some of his poor decisions. I think a sign of good leadership is the ability to recognize mistakes and change course when required. Bush wouldn't admit that Iraq was a mistake. Cheney wouldn't admit that water boarding was a mistake. Romney won't admit that he was wrong about the bail out. Rick can't admit that birth control isn't a sin. Ron Paul won't admit it's the 21st century and Newt ....too much from which to choose.
Good post Bob !! It's like trying to pick the perfect STD.
Who cares? At least the Olympics is real, unlike the religious fairy tale followed by Santorm. Anyone in the face of proven science and fact that follows religious fairytales is not fit to manage a lemonade stand, let alone the US Government.
Barry is looking reeeeeal good ain't he !!!
cowboy17
Barry is looking reeeeeal good ain't he !!!
Sure does and you know it partner!!!!!
http://www.rickperryme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Obama-vs-Rick-Perry-Cowboy-Hat.jpg
Oh, and that's President Obama; not Barry. Respect
cowboy17: How long are you going to stay on Mitt Romney's short hair's and come up with some real logic and facts?
Romney's talent is the ability to tell you what you want to hear when you want to hear it. Problem is, if someone held a gun to my head and told me to vote for a Republican, I'd have to choose Romney as opposed to Santorum, Gingrich, etc. It's like when Nixon was President and Agnew was his Veep, my high school poli-sci teacher one day announced in class, "Please don't die yet, Mr. Nixon, please don't die yet."
It is a very sad day for the USA!
98% of those who comment on here have no truthful knowledge regarding what they are commenting about.
In a nutshell, they have no clue what the he-l the truth of the matter is!
stop picking on the Teabaggers !!!! p.s. "concerned" is one of the many words on the GOP dog whistle list.
PALIN/HANK Jr. 2012 !!!
Romney is severely hypocritical. :)
Obama in 2012....SEVERELY !!!!
MSNBC dribble? You obviously didn't drive I-80 and I-15 before the olympics. There were pot holes big enough to swollow a bus.... the answer was always to wait and federal $$ would pay to upgrade everything for the olympics... and Orrin Hatch was key to getting those funds. Welch or Romney or Hatch, all worked on ear marks for Utah.
but it's ok for Mitty to keep saying he "saved" the Olympics ??? Just like Mitty...you want it both ways....now I'm dismayed....!!!
Cowgirl
I think you are the one who likes it both ways.
So you're a homophobe too...that explains the Santorum thing....
dismayed - Last I looked State roads are maintained by the State - like State of Utah The money comes from the excise tax with matching funds of State and Federal governments
Private roads like the one mentioned in the article - repaved road to a ski resort owned by a private business man should have been paid by the so-called business man and not federal funds
Everyone knew at the time that these games were a disaster as far as corruption and funding went
Also in the article it mentions Willard using his lobbying firm in DC - I thought he was not an insider in DC
re: It bothers me that he can't admit he was wrong about the auto bail out.
It depends on your definition of right and wrong.
Let's use Willard's definition of right and wrong.
Right: Whatever advances Willard's political ambitions.
Wrong: Whatever impedes Willard's political ambitions.
The Auto Industry rescue was ultimately President Obama's responsibility.
It succeeded brilliantly.
This success impedes Willard's political ambition.
Therefore....... it was wrong.
This is how this fool thinks, and he actually believes he can trick the American people into voting for him.
lol.
I don't beleive it is how HE thinks it how he wants everyone else to think.
So see..Santorum says stupid stuff...seriously so say ......see ya......
So every candidate confronts the other for the same defict increasing behavior. Pretty funny
Live from NEW YORK...It's Saturday night !!!!
Romney, again baring his hypocrisy and outlandish lies. The only amazing part of the equation is that so many are falling for his crap after he's been lying to so many people for so many years. Come on, American voters! There is nothing honest or truthful about Mitt Romney. Elect anyone but that deceitful thief.
Every time Mitt Romney tries to explain why he should be POTUS, he winds up bragging about how well he did as a business man--WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY!!! He's tried to make a virtue of choosing not to depend on Daddy George's largesse. BIG DEAL! What he DID use was Daddy George's connections to get into the right schools, and the right law firm, and make the right friends and suck up to the right lobbyists....ad nauseum. Mitt's has done what the 1% always does: climb all over other people to get where he wanted to go. Well, this time he's not going to get there. Because this time the REAL Mitt Romney keeps leaking out....
There doesn't seem to be an issue that Mitt Romney has not either lied or misrepresented himself. He is Mr. No Earmarks until we find out that he led the effort to secure over $1.5 BILLION in earmarks for the Winter Olympics. Of course this does not include his lobbying Washington D. C. for earmarks for Massachssetts while he was Governor.
Perhaps the saddest part of all of this is that he always has another lie ready to cover up the hypocrisy once its exposed.
Romney lied on others Repulicans and uses very vicious ads to distort his opponents' records.
Romney lied about his support of the Wall Street bailout.
Romney lied about Romneycare which he signed into law in Massachussetts.
Romey lied about abortion which he supported as governor of Massachussetts.
Romney lied about contraceptives which he supported as governor of Massachussets.
Romney lied about the auto industry and now wants to claim credit for something he totally opposed.
Romney lied about immigration reform when he talked about undocumented workers need to "self-deport".
Romney lied when he stated he is "severely conservative." What in the heck is a "severe conservative?"
Mitt Romney lies and lies and lies and lies. This guy gives the Republican Party a very bad name.
Mutt just keeps piling on the hypocrisy, skulduggery and buffoonery. Many voters have short memories, but let's hope they're reminded come election time. Immediately off the top of my head:
- "Corporations are people!"
- The $10,000 bet offer
- "I'm unemployed, just like you!"
- "Playing by the rules" with a tax rate half that of most others
- Bank accounts in Switzerland and various tropical locales
- Etc., etc., etc.
If Obummer's win in November is by anything other than a landslide, it will truly be a new low for America.
As if Romney is the only one giving the Republican party a very bad name?
Maybe Romny was right about the auto bailout. If Obama can carry (won't start in the winter) Chrysler and (customer is always wrong) GM, then why would/should Ford, who managed quite well without aide have to pay any taxes at all? By the way they stink too. And most Japanese and Korean cars are cheaper and better.
Korean you may have a valid point. But Ford has surpassed Japan . Toyota & Lexus just are not what they were. And they sure as hell are not cheaper. Except in manufacture.
HYPOCRISY THY NAME IS ROMoNEY !!
"Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."
"I don't care about very poor people."
Mitt Romney Took Advantage of Government Subsidies at Bain
73 millions in total ! and got RICHER !!
Paste, Omitt XX
http:X//tinyurl.Xcom/7ps7thb
LA Times enumerates six of Mitt Romney's Bain Capital companies for which he sought about $ 107 million subsidies, an received at least $ 73 million
Santorum is being outspent in Michigan by a margin of 40 to 1. By ROMONEY OF COURSE
http:X//tinyurl.Xcom/6ttoxdn
Genial cartood, enjoy !
In Rick Perry’s memorable phrase, Romney is a “vulture capitalist,
” RE-POST
Santorum is totally out of his league, and his behavior this week shows it. As for the Salt Lake City, Utah, US of A, Olympics---national pride was on the line. Romney, for whatever he is and isn't or was and wasn't, WAS able to cobble together disparate factions and funding sources from both private and public sectors, in record time, and pull of one of the cleanest Olympic events ever. He has nothing to be ashamed of on that score---he still deserves our thanks.
I can believe that Santorum would dig up old information from something so difficult as those Olympics---which had been riddled with problems of all sorts before Romney's arrival on the scene---and cast it as somehow dirty. Same as he's doing with anyone having sex, for crying out loud. I find it harder to believe that other sources would also try to pounce on him for this; reporting Santorum's spasms is one thing, and let's leave it at that.
Of COURSE Mitt Romney was able to get the warring factions in Utah to pull off the Olympics. He got with the other Mormon Elders and threatened to have them all excommunicated from the LDS Church! He then reminded them of the millions in LDS tithes that would not make their way to the Temple if the Salt Lake City Olympics went down the tubes. Same old Romney. Same old Good Ol Boys Club. BFD!
Let's see, were talking about 2002. Was there record deficits and spending then? The answer would be no.
Besides, Obama said when he was elected that he would not sign any bill that had earmarks. He did anyway.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29632177/ns/politics-white_house/t/obama-signs-massive-imperfect-spending-bill/#.T0Bse4cgc-k
mhrjhn.... ZONK!!
Sorry but the CORRECT ANSWER would be a resounding, YES!!!
bush and the neocons, in 2002? Record deficits?
You betcha the deficits were screaming, skyrocketing!!!
You see, bush's number one priority in August of 2001, was to put an UNNECESSARY ONE TRILLION DOLLAR missile defense system in Poland... a little payback to his Military complex buds and daddy for annointing him President... well within 8 months of taking office, bush has already ravaged the CLINTON SURPLUS, and added immediately to the National Debt...
And, then came -- what bush specifically said he did not consider his Administrations number one priority -- terrorism -- which struck (depite condi rice having a clear distinct DETAILED warning it was coming in a "historical intelligence memo" of August 5, 2001)...
9-11... hit home on the bush-idiot's watch, and just in time for the GOP to trigger the death of the USA's standard of living, as we once knew it.
Afghanistan.... two trillion$$$ war... still ongoing but finally being forced to wond down, BY PRESIDENT OBAMA, and he did kill Bin Laden, as promised. bush, didn't care... he had oil to steal in Iraq... needed to make the story line up...
And, the cost of both wars -- BOTH WARS, while under the bush-idiot, were NOT EVER INCLUDED into the "bush-disaster buget", their ALL RED NUMBERS -- multi-trilllions -- were kept out of the disasterous bush-tax-cut budgets, BECAUSE, the country was being drowned in debt -- by BUSH and the neocon-GOP, PERIOD!!!!
Go get your facts straight, goper.
BUDDY: Good man, you beat me to the punch:)
Are t these people unreal or what??? To be so delusional as to deny facts staring you directly in the face.
Oh, and what about Mr. "Deficits don't Matter" Cheney. What short memories these folks have.
Shocking!!!! cultist, mitt, "howdy doody", romney did the exact opposite of what he said?
Lies, forgetfulness, flip-flopping, tells any audience what it wants to hear?
Hiding tax returns? Wow, he makes the perfect republican candidate for..., pest eradicater, like Tom, "the rat-man" Delay.
Everything Romney has put his mind to, he has been successful. I just finished a biography on the him. He really is a unique man. He eats, breaths, and sleeps his jobs. He is focused. He is a good man. I'll vote for him if given the chance.
SDAIVS: No one denies Romney is a competent businessman. However, why folks on the Right insist on emphasizing business as a prerequisite for public office is absurd. Running a state or a nation has little if anything to with business.
The patron saint of the Right, The Gipper, had no business experience and yet your party holds him up as theideal. And what about Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford and many others? I'll tell you who was a "successful businessman", none other than Herbert Hoover as well as "Mr. The business of America is business" Coolidge and these are the guys who led us into the Great Depression.
It would be nice to know if Romney actually believes in ANYTHING because he has changed his stance on EVERYTHING. Go back and look up his record in Massachussetts. He's done a 180 on any subject you care to mention. Gay rights, gay marriage, abortion, woman's rights, taxes, on and one it goes. The man has zero backbone and will go whichever way the wind is blowing.
Paging Dr. Paul, paging Dr. Paul