Mission impossible

He’s led the U.S. Senate, helped bring peace to Northern Ireland and advised President Clinton on how to behave himself — former Sen. George Mitchell says nothing much shocks him anymore.

Wait until he gets a close look at the Olympics.

Like the other challenges this remarkable Mainer has taken on, the new one of ferreting out corruption in the siting of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics is important. Unlike them, its set up from the start to be virtually impossible.

Mitchell and four other worthy citizens have been chosen to investigate allegations that the International Olympic Committee was bribed by Salt Lake City officials. Or, to look at it the other way, that the city was forced into bribery by the committee. The central issue is to what extent the IOC’s limit of $150 in gifts to its 115 members was exceeded by $400,000 in scholarships to IOC children, by free skis, custom shotguns, first-class airfare and other expensive freebies.

This inquiry into improper, unethical and very possibly criminal acts must be done without subpeona power. Mitchell and his panel must rely upon the willingness of those on both sides of the giving and taking to cooperate, to rat themselves out. And while the U.S. Olympic Committee says it may penalize the 2002 organizers, it already has said it will not yank the games from Salt Lake City or try to take over operations. What, then, is left but to have Utah’s movers and shakers run a few laps?

Even Olympic insiders who claim they’re on Mitchell’s side are suspect. The primary whistleblower is senior IOC member Eric Hodler of Switzerland, who says vote-buying (including cash bribes of up to $3 million) affected the choice of Olympic cities for summer and winter games in 1996, 1998 and 2000 as well. Since Olympic sites are selected four years in advance, where, one wonders, was Hodler (an IOC member for 30 years) and his whistle in 1992, 1994 and 1996? Is he fed up with the corruption, or just disappointed that Zurich lost out?

Then there’s IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, whose bizarre solution to an urgent crisis the IOC knew about for years is to prohibit committee members from actually visiting the cities being considered for future games. At the very least, the persuasive Sen. Mitchell should be able to point out that it’s unwise to buy anything sight unseen, especially a city, and that bribery doesn’t have to be a face-to-face transaction.

So here is the hand dealt Sen. Mitchell: no ability to compel testimony; no meaningful penalties at hand; and a process guided by persons of dubious motives and faulty thought processes. It’s enough to make the Senate, Northern Ireland and even the White House seem downright rational.