McCain backs Olympic bid, but watch spending
It's not that Sen. John McCain opposes the Olympics -- he just opposes excessive federal spending on it, McCain's spokesman said.
With Sen. Barack Obama appearing at Friday's Daley Plaza rally to show his support for Chicago's 2016 Olympics bid, Mayor Daley emphasized Saturday that the city's bid has bipartisan support.
(AP)
"The present [Bush] administration . . . all met and have a committee working with us in regards to our Olympic proposal," Daley said. "We have commitments from both Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain in regards to Chicago hosting the Olympics."
Daley and other mayors and tourism officials met with McCain in Chicago two weeks ago to lobby him to ease post 9-11 travel restrictions on foreign tourists coming here -- restrictions the mayors said could hurt the Olympic bid.
McCain tangled with the United States Olympics Committee and gained a reputation as an Olympics skeptic when he launched an investigation of federal spending on the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
"The American taxpayer is being shaken down to the tune of nearly a billion and a half dollars," McCain said in 2002, launching a Senate investigation of federal spending on those games. "I am all for whatever expenditure for security for the Salt Lake City Olympics [but] a good part of this $1.5 billion -- and there is more in the appropriations bill -- has nothing to do with security. It has to do with road building. It has to do with land swaps, worthless land for valuable land. It has to do with wealthy developers. It has to do with the enrichment of billionaires."
McCain is still a watchdog when it comes to federal spending, but he is a supporter of Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics, said his spokesman, Tucker Bounds.
"There is no question that John McCain strongly supports and believes in bringing the games to the United States," Bounds said. "It's an excellent way for us to highlight our culture and our values for the world. John McCain very much values taxpayers' money and has made a career of overseeing the responsible use of taxpayer dollars."
Contributing: Cheryl V. Jackson