According to an ABC blog, Valerie Jarret, former vice chair of Chicago 2016 and now a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, will get a special ethics waiver so she can lead the White House’s efforts to bring the 2016 Summer Olympic Games to Chicago.
Friday night the White House reportedly posted on its website a special ethics waiver allowing Jarrett to support Chicago 2016 “because Ms. Jarrett’s knowledge and expertise on the United States’ sole Olympic bid for 2016 make her an ideal person to lead Administration efforts in support of this bid.”
The waiver was signed by Special Counsel to the President and Designated Agency Ethics Official Norm Eisen, who wrote, “although Valerie previously volunteered with Chicago 2016, she has no continuing financial relationship with them. Since the Administration already plans on vigorously supporting the United States’ sole 2016 Olympic bid, we felt that letting Valerie lead our efforts was strongly in the public interest”.