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Lifting the 'dark cloud' Samaranch declines to meet with Senate about scandal
Posted: Tuesday March 30, 1999 10:29 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Olympics' top official declined a Senate invitation Tuesday to testify how the IOC is dealing with its corruption scandal, a move one congressional leader said did little to lift the "dark cloud" over the games. As elite sponsors met with Olympic marketers to hear about reforms and ask for "concessions for damage" from the scandal, IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch told the Senate Commerce Committee that he was unable to attend hearings April 14 on the Salt Lake City bribery case. Samaranch gave no reason for declining the invitation and said he hoped Anita DeFrantz, an IOC vice president from Los Angeles, would be allowed to take his place. "We share your concern on the need of reform for the International Olympic Committee and want to assure you that we are deeply committed to restoring the integrity of the Olympic ideals," he said in a letter to Sen. John McCain, the Commerce Committee chairman. "The IOC has taken serious action to deal with the past and intends to continue to work with a number of people, including yourself, to set the IOC on the right course for the future." McCain, who has been critical of Samaranch and the IOC since the scandal broke late last year, said he was "deeply saddened" that the top leader of the Olympics had passed up a chance to explain "the reform and ethics initiatives of the organization." "Apparently, Mr. Samaranch doesn't understand the gravity of the situation for the future of the Olympic movement," McCain said in a statement from his Washington office. "The lack of transparency and accountability within the IOC, that fostered a culture based on gifts and lavish travel, has brought a dark cloud over the integrity of the Olympics." Legislation is pending that would hit the IOC squarely in its bank account, stripping tax breaks from the panel and its sponsorship deals and rerouting billions of television dollars to the U.S. Olympic Committee. McCain, an Arizona Republican with presidential aspirations, said his committee "must now move forward, unfortunately without Mr. Samaranch's direct input, to ensure that urgently needed reforms are implemented." The Senate hearings were among the topics discussed during a 21/2-hour meeting in New York between the IOC's 11 biggest sponsors and its chief commercial leaders, vice president Dick Pound and marketing director Michael Payne. No ringing endorsement was issued by the sponsors in the first meeting since an emergency IOC assembly expelled six delegates and set the framework for what the committee hopes will be watershed reforms to its structure and membership. But there also was no repeat of the sharp criticism of the last meeting with sponsors in mid-February, when boardroom concerns over the scandal's impact on the "halo effect" of Olympic sponsorship were repeated loud and clear. "It was a much better meeting," Pound said. "It didn't have the sense of discomfort, unease and suspicion. ... My impression is that they feel we do have a blueprint that looks sensible. We now have to build according to that plan." Sponsor representatives who attended the meeting agreed that the atmosphere was more relaxed and conciliatory than a month ago. But the representatives, all speaking on condition of anonymity, said the focus was business, not internal change. They said Pound and Payne were told by four companies that concern remained in executive suites over the scandal and, for the first time, were asked about how the IOC might make "concessions for the damage" to their $50 million investments. "It was total bottom line," one official said. "They were told, 'We are having problems getting Olympic budgets and programs through because you haven't given us enough ammunition to prove it (the scandal) is fixed. So how are you going to make it up to us?"' Another representative said the sponsors were not seeking rebates but instead wanted "items of marketing value," such as increased access to street ad space around the 2000 Games in Sydney. The sponsor officials all said there was no direct response from Pound or Payne. Pound said the sponsors had been concerned that "the event of the last three months had slowed down the internal allocation of resources, a 'Why don't we wait and see what's happening before doing X or Y for Sydney or Salt Lake.' "They've probably lost 3-4 months on that but there's still plenty of time to do things. I believe if they report in their internal process that these things are happening, that goes away." Some 40 people from all 11 corporations in the top-level program -- Coca-Cola, Eastman Kodak, VISA, Xerox, Sports Illustrated, Panasonic, McDonald's, IBM, UPS, John Hancock and Samsung -- attended the meeting. Also on hand was a USOC delegation headed by marketing chief John Krimsky, who was not at the February meeting but said the committee was "gratified" to be invited this time. "We feel it is essential, with nine of the 11 top sponsors coming from the United States, that the USOC is represented and will be represented at every one of these meetings," he said.
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