SLOC President & CEO Mitt Romney "floated a proposal"
yesterday that would "extricate" the SLOC from "direct
responsibility for advancing legal-defense fees" to indicted
Salt Lake City Olympic bid leaders Tom Welch and Dave
Johnson, according to Mike Gorrell of the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE,
who writes that the proposal "has one big hitch" in that
Welch and Johnson "would have to waive any future claims"
against the SLOC. Welch, Johnson and their attorneys,
William Taylor and Max Wheeler, respectively said that a
waiver was "not likely." Welch: "It's just an untenable
position they're putting us in. I'm facing a fight for my
life. ... It's not something I can compromise on. When I'm
facing criminal charges where SLOC's participation is key to
getting the truth out, I have to be able to hold them
accountable." Gorrell writes that paying the advance legal
fees "allows SLOC to spend donor, sponsor and taxpayer funds
on the Olympics, not on underwriting a 'Cadillac' legal-
defense team" for Welch and Johnson. Romney called the
proposal "a fair economic trade" and "a solution that
provides for their defense and gets us out of the middle."
Welch attorney Taylor: "SLOC has a responsibility to cover
[Welch's] fees no matter what his claims are. They're
putting pressure on people who have a legitimate need to
defend themselves, a right to defend themselves, and
extorting from them a concession" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 8/23).
GAMES NOT THE SAME: FSN's Jim Rome, on the Olympics:
"The Olympics have nothing to do with sports anymore.
Sports are about the 90th thing that anybody thinks of when
the Olympics are brought up. Indictments, corruption,
doping, scandal, cheating, bribes, trials, money laundering
and prostitution. I mean, everything but sports. Shoot,
they could cancel the actual events and have nothing but a
party for two weeks and I don't think anybody would even
notice" ("Last Word," FSN, 8/22).
