Associated Press
WASHINGTON ? Frustrated with the U.S. Olympic Committee?s latest ethics scandal, senators said Tuesday they will move to reorganize its leadership, which has been blamed for infighting that has tarnished its image.
?If the Olympic house can?t be cleaned up, Congress will help you clean it up,? said Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., a former Olympic martial artist.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., called the hearing after USOC chief executive Lloyd Ward was accused of ethical violations for trying to steer Pan American Games business to his brother?s company.
The resulting investigation, and a power struggle within the USOC ? and Tuesday, before the Senate committee ? has turned it into the latest Olympic scandal that the senators said is overshadowing the athletes.
The senators will hold a hearing within the next month to determine how to restructure the USOC leadership, McCain said.
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who sponsored the legislation in 1978 that created the USOC, noted that Congress has authority to revoke the committee?s charter.
The committee?s 123-member board of directors and 21-member ethics committee is ?totally unwieldy,? USOC Ethics Committee Chairman Ken Duberstein said.