Report: Federal funding, not Mitt Romney, saved the 2002 Olympics.
But Romney doesn't mention the commitments the government had already made to cover costs associated with the games — or elaborate on his role in persuading congressional appropriators and critics to give the games more money.
In the 2004 book he wrote about the games, called "Turnaround," Romney outlined how he revamped the Salt Lake Olympic Committee's lobbying operations in Washington. He directed plans to hire experienced transportation lobbyists — even highlighting how he poached one from another group that was trying to win earmarks for non-Olympic projects in Utah.
He met Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, then the chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. And he wooed Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, who along with Democratic Rep. John Dingell of Michigan had inquired about wasteful Olympic spending, resulting in a critical federal audit.
In one instance, Romney highlights how he made arrangements for different states to send experienced bus drivers to Utah to help transport people. Romney helped arrange to have them paid union wages, he wrote in the book, and he persuaded the federal government to pick up the tab.
http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/02/mitt_romney_says_he_turned_aro.html
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