If nothing else, the panel led by former Sen. George Mitchell to report on the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics added a new term to the lexicon of corruption. Gift creep: the gradual escalation from tokens of appreciation to bribery. Like the way coffee mugs, tote bags and T-shirts transmogrify into lavish vacations, make-work jobs and large envelopes of cash.

Of course the report does more than stick a name on a phenomenon that’s all-too common when movers meet shakers. It blasts the International Olympic Committee as an inbred, unethical group that fostered a “culture of improper gift-giving.” It spanks the Salt Lake organizers for embracing that culture. It scolds the United States Olympic Committee for ignoring a site-selection disgrace insiders have known about for many years and many Olympics.

It makes recommendations. The IOC should stop appointing members for life and instead have them elected by dues-paying members — national committees, sports federations and other constituents. It should conduct regular audits and make public its financial records. It should reimburse member travel expenses from a central fund. It should encourage members not to accept bribes from cities hoping to host an Olympics.

In short, the report suggests that a world-wide organization making multi-billion-dollar decisions and holding the hopes and dreams of thousands of young athletes in its hands should conduct itself in a way any self-respecting small-town chamber of commerce already does.

The report does not, however, call for the resignation of IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch and other committee leaders who either permitted or participated in the bribery. Changing leadership, the Mitchell panel concluded, would do no good unless the organizational structure changes.

OK, so one of the world’s most accomplished diplomats is too diplomatic to say it. Samaranch must resign. The entire 115-member IOC must put itself up for election. A special assembly called for mid-March would be a good opportunity. The U.S. Olympic Committee should not participate in another site-selection process until the panel’s reforms are adopted.

The Salt Lake organizers should come clean, freely and willingly. It will cost $1.4 billion to stage the 2002 Olympics. Roughly $500 million of that is to be recouped from TV, but advertisers are balking at having their name brands associated with graft. American taxpayers are chipping in some $150 million for transportation improvements. At least $4 million was given in bribes, yet only a couple of scapegoats have been given up and no explantion of the source of the money has been offered. If a cover-up exposed is followed by financial disaster, Salt Lake City will be known for decades to come as the last American city to host an Olympics. Call that scandal creep.