(3/13/99)
Governor Mike Leavitt is spending a good part of his Saturday reacting to the latest Olympic scandal news. The news was in today's Salt Lake Tribune, which quotes Tom Welch as saying the Governor knew about a scholarship program for I0C members. News specialist Richard Piatt has more.
This article put the Governor on the defensive at a time when he thought Utah was moving away from the Olympic scandal. But it looks like Tom Welch isn't about to let that happen, yet.
"THREE, TWO.... A LITERATE COMMUNITY IS A STRONG COMMUNITY."
The Governor taped an ad promoting literacy at KSL studios today. But ironically it was something he read that made him upset a few hours earlier. It was an article in the Salt Lake Tribune, where former Olympic boss Tom Welch is quoted as saying, "One of the things the Governor said we could do is to get the schools to pay for scholarships." That was in order to make Utah more attractive to I0C members, according to Welch.
Today, the Governor reacted strongly to the implication that he was aware of this ugly side of the bidding process.
Governor Leavitt: "I WISH HE HAD TOLD ME ABOUT IT, BECAUSE IF HE HAD IT WOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, AND THIS COMMUNITY WOULD HAVE BEEN SAVED AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF GRIEF. BUT HE DIDN'T."
Earlier this week, IOC vice president Anita DeFrantz was implicated in a New York Times article of also being aware of the Olympic bribes. That article quoted Dave Johnson. DeFrantz has not commented on it.
The Governor agrees that it's hard to believe Welch and Johnson are the only two responsible for the bribery scandal. But he again stops short of naming names, instead deferring to ethics and department of justice investigations.
The Governor repeated again his call for the IOC to get it's act together soon. It's clear the governor is anxious to get on with the games and move forward.
