N.Y. PR firm Coltrin & Associates was retained by the
SLOC in "the midst of the bid scandal," and "from the
beginning," company Chair Steve Coltrin "insisted" that SLOC
CEO Mitt Romney "never talk about the more than $1 million
spent by Salt Lake bidders to influence" the IOC's selection
of the city to host the 2002 Games, according to Lisa Riley
Roche of the DESERET NEWS. Romney "didn't agree at first,"
but it "didn't take long for Romney to see that Coltrin knew
what he was talking about." Soon, the stories that the firm
"was getting placed in major publications and broadcasts
around the country focused on the future of the organizing
committee, not its tainted past." Romney, on Coltrin: "He
gave me very good advice -- 'Focus on going forward ...
anytime you get asked about the past, Mitt, you don't want
to get into that." Meanwhile, the firm is "doing well
enough to be able to donate their services" to the SLOC, but
Romney said he expects to start paying the firm soon,
probably close to $1M by 2002 (DESERET NEWS, 6/27).
HEADING BACK TO THE HUB? In Boston, Silberman &
Battenfeld cite sources who say that Romney "is making plans
to move back to" MA and is "keeping his options open for a
2002 gubernatorial bid." Romney launched an unsuccessful
bid for the U.S. Senate in '94 (BOSTON HERALD, 6/28).
