Olympic Committee Purges Top Leaders Amid Scandal

SALT LAKE CITY — The top two executives of Salt Lake City’s Olympic organizing committee resigned Friday amid disclosures that civic boosters had given cash--more than $70,000, in one case--to members of the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC is the body that selects the host cities for the Olympics. In 1995, the IOC awarded the 2002 Winter Games to Salt Lake City--a decision that has since become engulfed in allegations that the IOC was bribed.

The housecleaning in Salt Lake City came after one corporate sponsor of the games, US West Communications Inc., withheld a $5-million payment and worried aloud about the diminishing value of the phone company’s investment.

Gov. Mike Leavitt said the resignations are the only way Salt Lake can recover from “revolting” actions by some boosters and assure sponsors and the Olympic community the city can successfully play host to the games.

Later, Leavitt said on KNRS Radio that an SLOC ethics panel also is looking into possible use of bid committee credit cards to pay for female escorts for IOC members. He said he had no other details.

G. Frank Joklik, president of the city’s Olympic organizing committee, resigned Friday even though he claimed to know nothing of gifts and payments given IOC members while he was serving as volunteer chairman of the civic group that bid for the games.

“The acts during the Olympic bidding process that besmirch our reputation break my heart,” Joklik said.

Joklik, 70, will remain on the job until a replacement is found. He said he asked for and received the resignation of Dave Johnson, 40, senior vice president. He too was part of the civic group that wooed the votes of IOC members.

The bribery allegations, which surfaced in November, are the subject of separate investigations by the Justice Department, the IOC, the U.S. Olympic Committee and a SLOC ethics panel.

At a news conference, Joklik described a litany of questionable actions by bid officials: cash payments to IOC members, including more than $70,000 in one case; payments for housing, travel and education expenses for IOC member relatives; expensive gifts and free health care for IOC members and their families; and assistance in making a Utah land investment.

He would not provide details and said there may be legitimate explanations for some of the payments.

“It is clear that these disturbing actions were taken in an effort to win friends for the bid,” Joklik said.

He did not refer to the payments as bribes, however, and said he didn’t believe IOC votes were promised in exchange for Salt Lake’s largess.

Although Joklik said he believes Salt Lake would have landed the games without the gifts, “a handful of IOC members seem to have seriously abused our generous impulses and expected--and received--more than they should have been given.”

Previously, the bid committee disclosed it paid $400,000 for 13 scholarships, six of which went to relatives of IOC members. Leavitt said “these so-called scholarships were not scholarships,” since some recipients didn’t attend college.

The Salt Lake organizing committee also will stop paying a $10,000-a-month consulting fee to Tom Welch, Joklik’s predecessor, who resigned in 1997 after being accused of assaulting his wife, Joklik said.

Two other senior SLOC employees who were part of Salt Lake’s winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games--senior vice president of marketing and legal affairs Kelly Flint and licensing director Rod Hamson--were placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigations.

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch expressed regret about the resignations but said he has confidence Salt Lake will be able to stage the games successfully.

A member of the Salt Lake committee, however, called on Samaranch to resign because bribery apparently occurred on his watch. “Until President Samaranch follows Frank’s example, the Olympic movement will not be able to move forward,” Ken Bullock said.

IOC director general Francois Carrard told Swiss television the scandal will force closer scrutiny of the IOC voting procedures. The IOC had heard rumors of corruption for years but had not been able to get hard proof until recently, Carrard said.

“For the first time we have proof. We have to clean up our act,” he said.

The resignations came as little comfort to US West, which fears more damaging revelations. Spokesman Michael Frandsen said the phone company is anxious over the diminishing value of its $60-million investment.

Already, the company has delayed sending a $5-million payment to SLOC. Frandsen refused to say whether US West would drop sponsorship.

The governor urged the Olympic community to commit itself to reform.

“This corner of Olympic corruption did not begin in Salt Lake City. But let it end here,” Leavitt said.