Bob CollinsThere’s not a lot about the competition to host Olympics games that passes the smell test and what’s happening in Boston — the United States’ entry in the competition to host the 2024 summer games — isn’t an exception.
The Boston Globe reports today that the United States Olympic Committee and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh have signed a deal that bans city employees from “badmouthing” the city’s effort to attract the Olympics.
The “joinder agreement” forbids the city of Boston and its employees from making any written or oral statements that “reflect unfavorably upon, denigrate or disparage, or are detrimental to the reputation” of the International Olympic Committee, the USOC, or the Olympic Games.
Instead, the USOC and the Walsh administration must “work cooperatively together to manage, complete, and promote” the city’s bid to the International Olympic Committee. Boston city employees “shall each promote” the city’s bid “in a positive manner,” the agreement adds.
The U.S.O.C. selected Boston over Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., to represent the U.S. in the international competition to host the 2024 Summer Games.
Opponents are threatening to scuttle the effort, however, by mounting a campaign to put a question on November’s ballot about public expenditures for the games.
