In today's paper, Tribune business columnist David Griesing whacks the Chicago 2016 bid committee for being so discreet about their Olympic fundraising and explains to the public why they don't have to accept the shroud of secrecy. A choice excerpt:
Now, [bid committee chair Pat] Ryan is a phenomenally successful insurance executive. He knows a deal breaker when he sees it, and he knows he needs the city's financial guarantee for the Games or there is no Chicago Olympics.
Ryan and Mayor Richard Daley, who want the Olympics so badly, will do about anything to get that guarantee. And that is why -- in exchange for a government guarantee in a city and state with a corruption-riddled track record -- citizens must insist on access to the Olympic committee's records.
This is called negotiating leverage, and taxpayers and citizens, in those rare moments when they have leverage, are fools if they do not use it.
Access to the Olympic committee's records is within the reach of the people who are being asked to guarantee the Games. All the City Council has to do -- at hearings next month -- is ask.
Go read the whole thing here.
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