Jun 26, 2009 5:19 pm US/Central
Daley Insists Olympic Guarantee Will Go To Council
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Mayor Daley fires back at reporters Friday as he takes questions about public financing of the Olympics.
CBS
Mayor Daley is back in town and facing a barrage of questions about the Olympics. He insisted over and over again that he did not sign any agreement to host the 2016 Summer Games.
"I would never take members of the City Council for granted, the taxpayers or anyone," Daley said Friday. "I don't know why people are trying to get this impression."
We got that impression because of what the mayor said in Switzerland. CBS 2's Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports.
Daley had spent a week overseas while the controversy raged over his telling the International Olympic Committee he'd sign a contract agreeing to an unlimited guarantee. But Friday, he tried to win back public support for the games.
"I've not signed anything," Daley said. "So let's put that in perspective. I've not signed anything."
It's not what he signed, but what he said, that led aldermen like Dick Mell to poll their constituents. Mell showed us the emailed responses.
The responses were "3 to 1 against the Olympics, and their main concern was, obviously, that the city would be on the hook for the money," Mell said.
True, the poll was unscientific, just like our survey of residents at a nearby Northwest Side shopping center.
It's a controversy, some aldermen say, that was avoidable.
"Unfortunately, we're in a position here where the failure to be forthcoming at the very outset casts suspicion on the actions that were taken," Ald. Toni Preckwinkle said.
Appearing with the mayor today was Ald. Bob Fioretti, who agreed that the small risk was worth a huge reward, including thousands of jobs and a potential multi-billion-dollar impact.
The Mayor admitted today he may have spoken too quickly in Switzerland last week when he said "yes" when asked about signing a contract calling for an unlimited guarantee. But he told me, that's not what he meant.
"I've not, Jay, I've not signed anything," Daley said. He added: "I'm not signing it until the council reviews it, the public reviews it, all the way 'til October."
Still unclear is whether the mayor will try to amend the host city agreement he said "yes" to -- to limit the guarantee to the $2 billion cushion already approved by elected officials here, or whether aldermen will buy his argument that the possibility of burning through that cushion is so remote that the risk of signing an unlimited guarantee is almost non-existent.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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