This month, Tribune business columnist David Greising has written two pieces urging more disclosure on the part of Chicago's Olympic bid committee and, in doing so, spurred a lengthy editorial from his paper on the topic. On Friday, he appeared on Chicago Tonight's "Week in Review" show to discuss the games and continued to push back against the committee's assurances that they are being "open and transparent." Watch it (full video here):
GRIESING: It's interesting. I've talked to people at the Olympic committee -- Chicago 2016 -- and they all believe that they've been the most open and transparent group that has ever been seen in the face of the Olympic movement.
And yet, a few weeks away, 40-some days away from the October 2 vote, we still don't know who these insurance companies are that are supposed to be backing -- guaranteeing the bid. We have no idea who any of the developers are of the Olympic Village. The guarantee they're looking for -- the unlimited guarantee from the city -- we don't know much about. We've had a little bit of corruption -- not corruption, conflicts of interest pop up with this Michael Scott -- this Olympic committee member who is involved in a development near the village.
It's just all kind of stirring around and it doesn't smell very good to longtime Chicagoans.
As Greising goes on to note in the above video, the 50 ward meetings held by the bid committee are almost finished. Today, a Tribune news article concludes that "many city residents want continued scrutiny of Olympic operations":
To date, the 2016 team has been slow to disclose certain key pieces of information, including its 2008 tax forms, which would detail revenues, expenses and compensation for the highest-paid employees and contractors.
South Side resident Kay Carroll called for independent oversight during the recent Bronzeville meeting. "Chicago doesn't have a sterling reputation about making good financial decisions," she said, citing the selling of valuable assets and a number of City Hall scandals.
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