Here's an article, well-documented it seems, about The Rominee's tenure as Olympic hero. His main accomplishment, of which he's bragged profusely, was securing a couple billion in government money, much of which was already in the pipeline thanks to presidents Clinton and Bush. But there's some stuff I didn't know (assuming it's accurate) which sheds light on his temperament. His dickishness is becoming ever more apparent, but it seems it wasn't well-hidden back then, either. It's only a small part of the article, but it's interesting:
Romney found himself stuck in a huge traffic backup on the road to the men’s downhill ski area, because some buses had not received the proper security-clearance placards and were being prevented from proceeding. Romney, who had organized the Salt Lake Olympics, jumped out to take charge. He started directing traffic, over the objections of a sheriff’s deputy, Kodi Taggart; she later filed a report on Romney’s interference. And he lit into an 18-year-old volunteering as a security officer, Shaun Knopp. Knopp told reporters thatRomney had asked “who the fuck” he was and “what the fuck” he was doing and had then told him, “We got the Olympics going on, and we don’t need this shit going on.”....
In the days after the incident, the state’s top law enforcement official decided against an investigation. But the officer in charge of security at the downhill site, Weber County Sheriff’s Office Captain Terry Shaw, said a police sergeant from Colorado working under his command had corroborated Knopp’s account, and Shaw demanded an apology from Romney.
And whereas Mr Romney generously donated his Olympics salary to "charity," it sounds like he profited handily from his time there:
The Mattel story has a lot of disturbing overtones about profiteering. Romney was on the board of The Learning Company. He seems to have used this to gain an ownership stake in Mattel when Mattel bought TLC. Romney negotiated a contract for Mattel with the Olympics. Romney seems to have not informed Mattel that TLC was in financial difficulty before it was bought by Mattel:
Romney may have parlayed a $23m investment and seat on the board of troubled software firm The Learning Company (TLC) into an ownership stake in Mattel, Inc. worth as much as $100,000,000 as of June, 1999.On September 25 of that year, Romney, in his role as CEO of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Organizing Committee, stood before the world to announce that the SLOC had signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Mattel for the production of stuffed-animal representations of the Olympic mascots.
Romney made no mention of his personal ownership interest in Mattel. Less than two weeks later, Mattel made a bombshell announcement.
Covering much more than the above, it's a lengthy article, and I'll admit that I'm referencing it because it comports wholly with my view of Mitt Romney. I'll leave it at that.
