USOC Decides to Discipline Ward in Wallet

CHICAGO — Seeking to defuse an ethics-related controversy centering on Chief Executive Lloyd Ward, the U.S. Olympic Committee on Saturday took away Ward’s bonus for 2002, $184,800, even as the policy-making executive committee expressed strong support for the CEO.

“It’s over,” acting President Bill Martin asserted after weeks of turmoil sparked by the late December disclosure that Ward had directed staff to help a Detroit company with ties to his brother that was trying to land a contract for the 2003 Pan American Games.

“Lloyd’s our guy,” Martin said. “Let’s support him and get on with it.”

In turn, Ward said he was “heartened” by such declarations of support and the executive committee’s 16-1 vote, which essentially fined him and confirmed a “strong letter of reprimand” be put in his personnel file but did not otherwise censure him. Six other USOC officials, including president Marty Mankamyer, have resigned. Congress is mulling a wholesale makeover of the USOC.

“As a leader,” Ward said, “one of the things that motivates me is confidence in me as a leader.”

The action Saturday comes as senior USOC leadership scrambles to signal to Congress and the U.S. public that it can -- without direct intervention from Capitol Hill -- get its affairs in order. The meeting was a “come to Jesus” affair, Martin said, with board member Jim McCarthy of Chicago saying, “We’ve emerged virtually unified.”

To replace Ward would mean the USOC would be looking for a fifth chief executive within four years. Martin, athletic director at the University of Michigan, is the fourth president since December 2000.

The USOC also has invested considerably in recent years in the notion of a corporate-style CEO. Ward is a former chief executive at Maytag.

“We think Lloyd Ward has suffered. We think we’ve suffered. It’s time to move on,” Martin said.

In addition, Anita DeFrantz of Los Angeles, the senior International Olympic Committee delegate to the U.S. who also serves on the USOC executive committee, had previously called for an independent review of the circumstances surrounding the inquiry into Ward’s conduct; she said Saturday she no longer believes such a review is necessary.

“I’ve said all along, I want closure in this,” Ward said. “Whatever it takes, today, tomorrow, let’s get closure.”

Closure, however, may remain elusive. The executive committee’s action comes amid a number of calls for Ward to join Mankamyer -- who stepped down Tuesday -- in leaving the USOC. Among those suggesting Ward depart is Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.), who serves on a Senate panel that will convene a second hearing Thursday into the USOC’s operations. The first took place Jan. 28.

Ward said he has “never really considered” resigning.

The executive committee will reconvene today to begin planning for reform, with the hope of working in conjunction with Congress, senior officials said late Saturday.

Meantime, the U.S. Justice Department apparently is inquiring into allegations that a bribe was offered to win the Detroit company, Energy Management Technologies, a contract for the 2003 Pan Am Games. No deal was signed. Federal agents recently conducted interviews in Santo Domingo, the Dominican capital.

In addition, a lingering issue sure to shadow Ward is his membership in Augusta National Golf Club, site each April of the Masters. He is one of the few African American members of the club; it has no female members. He has pledged to work for reform from within.

“I will not change Augusta,” he said Saturday. “Augusta has to change itself. I will not change the USOC. The USOC has to change itself.... Can I be a catalyst, a conscience?”

The action Saturday marked the second time senior USOC officials have indicated that, for them, the matter sparked by the ethics inquiry centering on Ward is finished. The first time came Jan. 13, the day a USOC ethics board report was made public.

The report found that Ward had committed two violations of the USOC ethics code but didn’t use the word “violation.” In mid-January, USOC officials began referring to the two violations as “technical violations.” The word used Saturday was “violations,” with Martin saying, “Lloyd screwed up. I can’t say it any clearer. But we’ve got to move beyond that.”

The ethics report recommended no disciplinary action; the USOC referred the matter to its compensation committee in conjunction with Ward’s annual performance review.

That panel, it was announced Saturday, graded Ward in six categories -- including the number of medals won by U.S. athletes (a team-record 34 medals at last year’s Salt Lake Winter Games), marketing and income generating (several sponsor deals in the works) and other factors.

In all, he was eligible for a bonus amounting to $184,800, USOC Vice President Paul George, a Boston attorney, said. The maximum bonus possible would be just over $200,000. Ward’s annual salary is $550,000. “His performance review was outstanding,” McCarthy said.

With the exception, of course, of the ethics-related matter, officials said. A statement issued Saturday said that because Ward’s position as CEO “calls for exemplary leadership in matters of ethics and personal conduct,” the compensation committee decided as a “sanction” the entire $184,800 ought to be “transferred” to athlete support programs. Ward had suggested it last week.