Mitt Romney's thrill of victory at the Olympics
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
SPECIAL REPORT | NOVEMBER 2011
REUTERS/YIORGOS KARAHALIS
FAMILIAR TUNE: Brought in to right the scandal-plagued U.S. organizing committee, Romney traveled to Greece to send the Olympic torch on its journey to
Utah and sang the national anthem.
Mitt Romney’s thrill of
victory at the Olympics
FOUR MONTHS AFTER 9/11, SALT LAKE’S WINTER GAMES WENT OFF WITHOUT A
HITCH, AND ROMNEY HAS CAMPAIGNED ON THAT FACT EVER SINCE
BY PETER HENDERSON on International Olympic Committee “He salvaged the 2002 Winter Olympic
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, NOV 22 officials, bringing disgrace upon itself and Games from certain disaster,” Romney’s
the global sports organization. campaign Web site states.
B
Y THE LATE 1990s, Mitt Romney Then Mitt took over. When five gargantuan An examination of the three years Romney
had succeeded in business, failed in Olympic rings lit up the mountains around spent in Salt Lake reveals a man somewhat
politics, and reached a crossroads. Salt Lake in 2002, they burned away the last different from the often-wooden candidate
The path he took was to the Olympics. hint of scandal, healed a nation recovering on the stump this year. Back then, according
In 1999, three years before the 2002 from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and to interviews with colleagues and friends,
Winter Olympics, the Salt Lake City games made Romney into a household name. he joked easily with his staff and showed a
were mired in a bribery scandal and facing Massachusetts voters who had snubbed warm personal side.
a $400 million budget shortfall. Utah’s him in a 1994 Senate race elected him But Romney also displayed sharp, even
capital city, home of the straight-laced governor later that year, setting the stage ruthless, political instincts as he worked to
Mormon Church, had won its bid to host the for two presidential bids in which he has salvage the Games. Critics say he stage-
Games with a shower of cash and presents frequently invoked the Olympic turnaround. managed these efforts to burnish his
own image, at the expense of others. He Romney convinced partners and creditors turned to private equity, which focuses more
calculated the effect of every action, from to cooperate, and extracted promises from on improving or turning around existing
urging his senior staff to smile to cancelling key consultants to stay while the company businesses. Private equity firms frequently
the five-star lifestyle that went with Olympic righted itself, remembered Geoffrey Rehnert, have the companies they buy take out
management. He also worked behind closed a colleague at the time. “He’s good at getting massive loans to retool -- and pay back the
doors to pressure the man who had organized people to deflate their egos,” Rehnert said. new owners’ investments. Not every business
the city’s bid for the games to plead guilty on Bain Capital, which was independent survived the treatment, and when Romney
charges that eventually were tossed out of of Bain & Co., began by taking stakes in made his first foray into politics, he was
court. new businesses, helping to launch office chewed up and spit out by the lion of the U.S.
No one disputes that, in the end, the 2002 supply giant Staples, for example. But it Senate, Teddy Kennedy.
Winter Games were a brilliant success. But
some argue that Utah’s deep tradition of
volunteerism, widespread support for the
Olympic bid in the state and in the Mormon
Church, and the global outpouring of
goodwill -- and cash -- that followed the
tragedy of the 9/11 terror attacks deserve
much of the credit.
“Any well trained chimpanzee could have
come in and had a successful Olympics,” said
Doug Foxley, a Salt Lake City lobbyist and
former adviser to Romney’s presidential rival
Jon Huntsman, Jr.
BOB GARFF, the Salt Lake City businessman
and politician who chaired the Olympic
Games, pursued Mitt even though he was
something of an outsider. The Romneys, like
the Garffs, are one of the old Mormon clans
that helped build Utah, but Mitt’s father
George Romney had made his career in
Michigan, where he turned around tiny AMC
Motors then became governor. Mitt settled
in Massachusetts after taking his law and
business degrees at Harvard.
According to the book he later wrote
about his time in Salt Lake, Turnaround:
Crisis, Leadership and the Olympic Games,
Romney wasn’t sure he wanted the job. In
the aftermath of his failed 1994 Senate run
against Edward Kennedy he returned to
his investment firm. But, he wrote, “I kept
asking myself, ‘Do I really want to stay at
Bain Capital for the rest of my life? Do I want
to make it even more successful, make even
more money? Why?’” Romney was already
well on the way to the fortune, worth as much
as $264 million, reported in his presidential
financial filing.
His wife, Anne, argued for taking the job,
appealing to his sense of civic duty. The
Senate campaign had also shown Romney
that his business success was a double-
edged sword when it came to politics.
REUTERS/JIM BOURG
Romney had gone straight from Harvard to
a career as a business consultant. He landed
at Bain & Co., then became wealthy starting
a spin-off investment company, Bain Capital.
Along the way, Romney cultivated an image
as Mr. Fixit, even averting a bankruptcy when 9/11 TRIBUTE: Romney and Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, flanked
his old firm, Bain & Co., fell on hard times. President George W. Bush at the opening ceremony to welcome a flag from the Twin Towers.
OLYMPICS 2
Romney changed his registration from asked him for a receipt for a 35 cent highway
Independent to Republican in 1993 to take toll. Romney’s boss at the time explained
on Kennedy, and spent $3 million of his that Marriott would want the story to get
own money on the campaign. He lost the around headquarters so the troops would
election -- and his polished reputation as know how careful he was about money.
a turnaround artist and job creator -- after “The details are important,”
Kennedy hammered him on job cuts by Romney wrote.
Bain. In that spirit, Romney dropped catered
In one particularly effective Kennedy ad, a lunches at local Olympic meetings, charging
laid off Indiana worker said, “If he’s created board members $1 a slice for pizza, and
jobs, I wish he could create some here, you swapped out of a five-star hotel when he went
know, instead of taking ‘em away.” Bain- to Switzerland to report to the International
backed Ampad had bought the paper Olympic Committee. He declared he would
products plant and fired workers, while work for free unless and until the Games were
Romney was on leave from the firm. Striking a financial success, admitting that he was
workers trooped out to Boston and followed wealthy enough that the gesture required no
Romney’s campaign for days before he real sacrifice.
agreed to meet with them, the Boston Globe Ken Bullock and other critics are driven to
reported at the time. distraction by Romney’s claim that he saved
Kennedy “swept me up and off the floor,” the games. But at the time he took little
Romney admitted in Turnaround. credit for himself, letting others cast him
as the savior.
WHEN ROMNEY ARRIVED in Salt Lake Nevertheless, Romney took a very
City, federal officials were investigating public role in shaping the narrative
whether bribes had been paid to get the of games -- from scandal to success.
Olympic bid, and staff and volunteers When Romney was brought in, he was
were demoralized. A budget review had pushed in front of the cameras, and he
found a $400 million shortfall, and potential remained there. Bullock in particular felt
sponsors had stopped in their tracks. LOCAL HERO: Pins are big money makers at the that Romney controlled the story. “No one
“It was really ugly, ugly, ugly there,” said Games, and these also made Mitt into a household could have a difference of opinion,”
name in Salt Lake.
Cindy Gillespie, who had worked for the Bullock said.
Atlanta games – tarnished by disorganization Though Romney now keeps at a cool
and a homegrown terror attack – then moved example, became part of $200 million in remove from national reporters following his
on to Salt Lake. cuts, Gillespie recalled. campaign, in Utah he courted the local press,
Romney approached the job as both a But limiting the mission in this way rankled and at one point dismissed his own public
consultant’s case study and a marketing some Salt Lake City natives who had worked relations person from an interview to show
exercise. He had to clean up operations on the Olympics before Romney arrived. It he had nothing to hide. He was a paragon
and also clean up the image. Garff and wasn’t easy to get the Games: Utahns tried of transparency, supplying documents
local reporters remember an impressive for decades, even voting for a special tax to - including ones about the scandal - to
performance at his first press conference, build Olympic facilities before they won their reporters.
facing a barrage of questions with conviction 2002 bid. In their view, Romney’s approach He also sought to draw a clear line around
and aplomb. failed to properly respect the state, the the bad old days before his arrival and leave
“We came away from that with the Mormon church, the volunteers, and the those issues behind, privately lobbying
momentum changed,” said Garff, who powerful business partners, such as NBC, for a swift out-of-court settlement in the
felt that performance revealed Romney’s who were deeply invested in the games. bribery investigation.
political savvy. “We didn’t need some hedge fund guy Sydney Fonnesbeck, a former Salt Lake City
Ever the business consultant, Romney coming in to get this done,” said Ken Bullock, council member, remembers getting a call
started with a basic question -- what is the head of the Utah League of Cities and Towns, from Romney, asking her to persuade Tom
mission of the Olympic Games? It was not to who had a number of run-ins with Romney Welch, who led the city’s bid effort, to plead
goose the local economy, and it was not to while working on the Olympic committee. guilty. “It was a way to get over it. It was too
teach youths about peace and goodwill, he distracting to actually doing the Games. It
concluded. It was about the athletes, and the ROMNEY UNDERSTANDS that a symbol tells was all for the good of the games, the good
measure of success would be whether the a story. At a recent Republican presidential of Utah. I thought he was sincere,” recalled
events went off well for them, Gillespie said. debate he was blunt about the matter, Fonnesbeck, who believes Utah owes a debt
With that decision, the team had a relating how he told a yard service manager to Welch for landing the Olympics.
clear goal -- and Romney could proceed that he could not have undocumented She turned Romney down, and in
to methodically separate essential workers mowing his grass. “I’m running for December, 2003, Federal District Court
expenditures from nonessential ones to close office, for Pete’s sake, I can’t have illegals,” Judge David Sam threw out the bribery case,
the $400 million budget gap. Youth camps, he said. saying it “offends my sense of justice” and
which would have brought kids from around In his book on the games, Romney calling it a “misplaced prosecution.”
the world to study each others’ cultures, for described how billionaire Bill Marriott once By dismissing the charges, Judge Sam
OLYMPICS 3
denied the government even the possibility
of appeal, an unusually harsh gesture.
Romney, in his book, said the authorities who
pursued the case were “inept.” But former
U.S. Senator George Mitchell, who led a
special investigation for the U.S. Olympic
Committee, spread the blame broadly among
international, national, and local players.
Fonnesbeck and others saw Welch and David
Johnson as scapegoats for a city and state
that had pursued the Games, knowing the
only way to win them was to play by unsavory
rules. Neither Welch nor Johnson would
comment for this article.
“He did a good job,” Fonnesbeck said of
Romney. “I have no complaints about the
final product. I just feel bad that he had to
do it the way he did. It was kind of like he
couldn’t do well unless he made others look
bad,” she said.
In response to a request for comment,
the Romney campaign credited, in a written
statement, “the commitment and dedication
of many people who served in the Olympics.”
DETRACTORS POINT TO A collection of
Mitt Romney lapel pins as the essence of his
self-promotion. One pin shows Romney in a
superhero cape, another, for Valentine’s Day,
has his square-jawed, smiling face in a heart
with the slogan, “Hey Mitt, We Love You.” A
third, shaped like a baseball glove, says “
REUTERS/DAVID LOH
Mitt happens.”
Romney’s closest advisers say they don’t
recall who decided to make the pins. Fraser
Bullock said Romney might have approved
them as a scheme to help the budget,
because Olympic pins are big sellers. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: Romney spoke to the press at the close of the games. “I think if you search
On the campaign trail today, Romney Olympic history, you’ll have a hard time finding a better executed Games,” said then Governor Michael
makes grand claims about his ability to turn Leavitt.
around the economy, but in Salt Lake he was
in Washington, D.C., when the third plane of the wave of patriotism that boosted New
modest and self-deprecating, once offering
struck the Pentagon, and he pulled to the York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, President George
up a David Letterman-style Top 10 list of
side of the road in a cloud of acrid smoke W. Bush and other public officials into the
mistakes by the organizing committee. It
from the burning building. ranks of heroes. He benefited from that surge
included a starting gate that began smoking
When he finally got back to Salt Lake, he of emotion as well. The Games went off with
during an equipment test - but not the bribes
delivered an address that has become legend, fanfare and no mistakes in February, 2002,
that led to his joining the Games, according
speaking about the awesome responsibility and Romney was covered in glory, perhaps
to the Deseret News.
and the honor of hosting the world’s first no more so than when he strode into the
Bullock remembers walking into his boss’s
international meeting after the attacks. Olympic stadium with Bush and to greet a
office one day in the summer of 2001. “I think
He then led the team singing America the tattered flag from Manhattan.
after all this work, it’s really going to pay off,”
Beautiful, Fraser Bullock recalls. “He’s a very But on that glory, too, opinion is divided.
he told his boss. “Mitt in his typical style said
good singer,” he said. “Do you honestly think after 9/11 that our
‘Great. Appreciate all the work of the team.
It was hectic, Bullock added. Nations country was going to let these games - or
But let’s not just tell anybody, because we
considered dropping out of the Games. the world was going to let these Games not
just want to manage expectations.’”
Millions of dollars of tickets and hotel room be a great success?” asked Ken Bullock.
reservations were put on hold. And organizers “Whether it was for security, or whether it
A FEW MONTHS LATER, those expectations
began to revamp the security arrangements, was for a transportation project - whatever
had to be overhauled. The Sept. 11, 2001
including plans for a ‘no-fly-zone’ over the the case may be, the check book opened,” he
terrorist attacks that brought down
sports venues. said.
Manhattan’s twin towers happened just five
Romney was keenly aware of the new Romney himself pointed out, in his book,
months before the Games. Romney was
symbolism infused in the Games by 9/11, and that Congress’s biggest critic of public
OLYMPICS 4
support of the Games, Arizona Senator John concerned about their scandal-tinged executive in the family’s multi-billion-dollar
McCain, reversed himself after the attacks. incumbent governor started a “draft Mitt” business, to get the Olympics job, and the
McCain ushered Romney into his office to campaign, and he went on the win the families have been on strained terms ever
say there would be no problem with security state race by a respectable 50 percent to since. Some of the most vicious attack ads
spending for the Olympics. 45 percent. He quit after one term to begin against Romney in this presidential primary
Would the Games have failed without running for president fulltime. are being produced by the Huntsman camp.
Romney? “It’s tough to prove a negative,” In Utah, meanwhile, Romney remains a rock But, according to that same poll, Utahns
said former Utah Governor Michael Leavitt. star. He outpolled native son Jon Huntsman, believe the Games showed that Romney had
“But I think if you search Olympic history, Jr., by 71 percent to 13 percent in an August the financial know-how and moral steadiness
you’ll have a hard time finding a better survey by the Salt Lake Tribune, which is to be president. There, at least, the Olympic
executed Games.” remarkable considering that Jon Huntsman, flame is still lighting Romney’s career.
Romney’s national triumph with the Sr., is one of the state’s most powerful men
Olympics was his springboard to political and generous philanthropists. By some
viability. Massachusetts Republicans, accounts, Jon, Sr., wanted his son, then an (Edited by Lee Aitken)
REUTERS/WOLFGANG RATTAY
GRAND FINALE: Skaters poured flourescent paint on the ice during the closing ceremony of the Games, which became an abiding source of local pride.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
MICHAEL WILLIAMS LEE AITKEN PETER HENDERSON
GLOBAL ENTERPRISE EDITOR ENTERPRISE EDITOR, POLITICS peter.henderson@thomsonreuters.com
+1 646 223 5462 +1 646 223 6978
michael.j.williams@thomsonreuters.com lee.aitken@thomsonreuters.com
© Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. 47001073 0310
Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
‘Thomson Reuters’ and the Thomson Reuters logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of Thomson Reuters and its affiliated companies.
You can also read
