Salt Lake bid leaders seek compensation

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Lawyers for Salt Lake City's once-indicted bid leaders are trying to negotiate a financial settlement for the two men before the Salt Lake Organizing Committee goes out of business.

Max Wheeler, a lawyer for bid executive Dave Johnson, said Thursday the talks involve compensation for the fired executives and payment of their legal fees.

Tom Welch, who served as president of the Salt Lake bid and organizing committees, and Johnson, who was vice president, "were left with no retirement or anything," Wheeler said.

"We don't think that's fair for two men who were largely responsible for the success of the Games," Wheeler said. "Tom and Dave put in place most of the financing."

SLOC president Fraser Bullock refused to discuss a settlement for Welch and Johnson, saying, "We don't comment on personnel matters." Bullock said he plans to close shop and the books by January.

Last year, a federal judge in Utah threw out all 15 felonies in an indictment that had charged Welch and Johnson with bribing International Olympic Committee delegates in exchange for their support of Salt Lake City's bid.

The U.S. Justice Department is appealing that decision.

Wheeler said SLOC's insurer has been reluctant to pay bills for Welch and Johnson under a standing policy protecting them from liability. Wheeler said he's been paid less than two-thirds of what he's owed for defending Johnson.

The Winter Olympics were a financial hit, generating a $56 million profit, and SLOC has been doling out millions of dollars to the city, state and Olympic venues.

Welch, 57, received no compensation for eight of the 10 years he spent bidding for the Olympics. He was stripped of $1 million from a consulting contract and pension when the Olympic bid scandal broke in late 1998.

Johnson, 43, was forced out of his $200,000-a-year position in January 1999 and lost a pension and an insurance annuity valued at $1 million. He had been working on the Olympic bid for 15 years.

 

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