Will the scandal never end

February 14th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

If you live in Chicago, you see the signs. They’re everywhere. They look exactly like that image to the right — go anywhere in the Loop, anywhere near downtown, and you can’t help but be reminded that Chicago is working very hard on making transportation a nightmare eight summers from now.

Ah, but is all lost? Will the scandal in my life ever recede? Not if Chicago public officials keep acting like George Clooney in Syriana:

Did Chicago 2016 chairman Patrick Ryan violate bid city rules by meeting with an International Olympic Committee member during a recent trip to the Middle East?

Ryan traveled to Qatar with Northwestern University president Henry Bienen to discuss plans for the Northwestern branch campus to open on the outskirts of the Qatari capital, Doha. Ryan and Bienen also went to Kuwait, where they met IOC member Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, former OPEC chairman and a member of the Kuwaiti ruling family.

“There shall be no visits by IOC members to the cities, nor by the cities to IOC members.”

Ryan, Bienen and Robert Fasulo, the U.S. Olympic Committee international relations chief, met Feb. 5 with Sheikh Ahmad.

I know: corruption not only from members of the International Olympic Committee, but from — get this — Chicago politicians. Gasp! Next thing, you’ll be telling me that Debbie Clemens and Jose Canseco’s wife were caught so deep in the performance-enhancement game they were comparing the rotund nature of their breast augmentation surger — oh. No way.