Behind the bid: Ald. Manny Flores rethinks rallying-cry, “No free check!”

It’s no news that 1st Ward Alderman Manny Flores is unhappy about how city government is handling Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics. But less clear is what he plans to do about it.

Last month, Flores introduced legislation to the City Council that would cap the city’s spending at $500 million—a figure the council arrived at earlier in the planning stages of the bid, but later gave up once the International Olympic Committee made it clear back in June that host cities must agree to give the Olympics a full financial guarantee.

That bill is still pending in committee (Spokespeople from Flores’s office say they are waiting to hear word from City Hall, but the projected date of the hearing is Sept. 8). But some pundits have wondered whether Flores was actually abandoning the bill after he presented a new plan to make sure Chicago 2016 gets “No free check,” in a recent e Op-ed in the Chicago Tribune.

In the piece, Flores outlines a five-point plan for greater transparency from the city and Chicago 2016—and doesn’t mention the $500 million cap. But, he explained to me last week, this doesn’t mean he’s backing off; he’s just rethinking how a spending cap could help, and hurt, the city.

“I would not characterize [the op-ed] as backing down,” he said. “The thing is, you can’t have your cake and eat it. We could impose the cap, but we’ve already been told [by the IOC] that it would not be possible for us to win the bid.”

Flores originally suggested a cap on using city funds for the Olympics to safeguard against surprises like the one Mayor Richard Daley gave city aldermen back in June, when he seemed to tell the IOC that Chicago would sign the host city’s agreement on Oct. 2 if selected, and thereby pledge to fully insure the Olympics.

The aldermen, Flores added, “were informed that $500 million was the most the city would have to commit… and that the city was not going to be pursuing that type of guarantee that the IOC had imposed on other cities. We were under the impression we would not commit tax dollars or open ourselves up to a blank check.”

Flores now thinks his spending cap legislation stands to be modified in committee, hopefully along the lines he laid out in his op-ed, which asks for an independent oversight committee, and public records of all Games’ related spending.

According to Flores, that five-pronged mandate for transparency is the only way to keep the bid officials honest while still making Chicago a viable contender for the Games. Does this mean $500 million cap is history?

Not exactly, he said. “If we have protective mechanisms in place, we should pursue the Games. But I’m telling the 2016 Committee, if you don’t want to be transparent, then you’re going to get capped at $500 million dollars. If that kills the Games, then that will be it.”