[news] Special Interests Get the Gold (Again)

[Resist! Collective]

-------- Original Message --------
From: NO GAMES 2010 <nogamespress at yahoo.com>

NO GAMES 2010 COALITON

-FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-				Feb 20, 2004

SPECIAL INTERESTS GET THE GOLD (AGAIN)

Vancouver- The Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) for
the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games announced today that they had picked
John Furlong as CEO.  Furlong, who had been key officer of the Bid
Corp, was one of 2 businessmen short listed competitors for the job.
Dick Pound, Canadian IOC official claimed today that the OCOG had
“rigged” their decision and cited interference by Premier Gordon
Campbell in the decision.

Chris Shaw, spokesperson for NO GAMES 2010, said that the choice of
Furlong demonstrates that the special interests behind the Games have
maintained their grip on all aspects of Vancouver’s bid.  “Putting in
John Furlong is essentially the same as putting in Jack Poole”, said
Shaw. “Furlong is more urbane, but Poole will tell him what to do at
every step.  This is another victory for the developers who have been
behind the Bid from the beginning”.

NO GAMES notes that Furlong was formerly CEO of the elite Arbutus Club
which belongs to Caleb Chan, a Bid Corp director.  Chan has major real
estate holdings all along the Sea to Sky Corridor and is linked to Hong
Kong tycoon Li Ka Shing.  “Mr. Furlong is still working for Chan and
the other Bid Corp developers, he is just going to change his office”,
said Shaw.  “This is not Canada’s bid, merely that of Vancouver’s
development elite. If the OCOG had chosen David Emerson [the other
competitor], I might have thought that they were actually going to run
an honest Games.  Furlong is going to do exactly what his bosses tell
him to do”, claimed Shaw.

The IOC recently faced another scandal arising from the arrest of South
Korean IOC Vice President Kim Un-yong.  The Korean and Vancouver press
have suggested that Kim may have been involved in an effort to
manipulate the IOC vote that awarded the Games to Vancouver.  “Here is
Mr. Furlong’s first challenge: assure the people of BC that neither he
nor any member of the Bid Corp played any role in manipulating the vote
in July”, said Shaw.  “Next, he should immediately release the
financial statements of the original Bid Society and the Bid Corp to
the Auditor General of BC”.

“The special interests got their gold medal today”, said Shaw, “but
they and Furlong will trip on the way to the finish line.  We’ll be
waiting for that”, warned Shaw.

					-30-

For more information, contact Chris Shaw at 604-924-1467;
casgreen05 at hotmail.com, Phil LeGood at 604-2182455; pwlegood at sfu.ca or
Ian Gregson at iang at sfu.ca604-320-1911