McCain unmoved
He says Campbell's fear that USOC will leave is 'exaggerated'
By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, News Washington Correspondent
July 9, 2003
WASHINGTON - Fears about the U.S. Olympic Committee leaving Colorado Springs are "exaggerated," Sen. John McCain said Tuesday, explaining why he will not bow to pressure to include special protections for Colorado in his planned USOC reform legislation.
McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., both appear to be digging in their heels over the issue, which threatens to stall efforts to revamp the governing body that oversees the nation's Olympic effort.
Two panels have recommended changes that would shrink the size of the USOC governing board from a 123-member assembly to an 11- or 13-member board.
Campbell believes the smaller board would make it easy for a small faction to decide to move the headquarters staff to New York or another major market, as some officials have suggested in the past. So he has threatened to filibuster or otherwise block any reform legislation that does not include provisions preventing a move out of Colorado Springs.
In an interview with the
Rocky Mountain News on Tuesday, McCain said he still is willing to talk with Campbell to ease his concerns but that he won't include the provision protecting Colorado.
"I think they are exaggerating the problem here," McCain said. "Colorado Springs has been its home, and people are very happy there.
"Should I put in a law that any agency has to remain in a certain place? How can you justify mandating that any organization stay anywhere? Boeing just left Seattle, and they get government contracts. Should I have said that Boeing had to remain in Seattle?"
Told of McCain's remarks, Campbell said he is sticking by his threat to use "every tool available to a U.S. senator" to block the legislation, which McCain and Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, plan to introduce in coming days.
"I'm planning to do whatever I can," Campbell said Tuesday. "If the Olympic Committee was in his state, he'd say the same thing."
Over the years, several people have suggested moving the administrative headquarters to a major metropolitan area such as New York or Los Angeles for fund-raising and marketing reasons. The idea resurfaced in congressional testimony earlier this year, when Anita DeFranz, the senior U.S. member of the International Olympic Committee, suggested the move during congressional testimony.
The committee's 123-member board already has the power to decide such moves, although no formal proposal in that direction ever has gotten off the ground.
Campbell and other members of the Colorado congressional delegation worry about a smaller board, believing there is a New York faction pushing it behind the scenes.
"Obviously, I support Sen. Campbell," Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., said Tuesday. "He has Colorado Springs' and Colorado's interests foremost in his mind."
But McCain turned that statement around when asked if he worried that the parochial interests in Colorado could scuttle or delay the larger reform efforts.
"You know, I hope that all of us will act for the good of the Olympic movement," McCain said.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drm...095993,00.html
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