After four days on the job, interim USA Gymnastics president Mary Bono is out. USA Gymnastics had hired Bono as its interim president on the heels of one of the worst sexual abuse crises in American sports history. But Bono was also a senior vice president at the organization consulted to help cover up for a serial child abuser — former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University team doctor Larry Nassar. And she tweeted critically about the Nike campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick and seemed to embrace an anti-Nike boycott, despite the fact that the sport’s biggest — and best — gymnast, Simone Biles, is a Nike athlete. Now Bono is out after less than a week leading USA Gymnastics. In a statement on Tuesday, Bono resigned from the presidency and blamed her exit on “personal attacks that, left undefended, would have made my leading USAG a liability for the organization.” She added that she can “proudly stand behind” her work with Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting, a firm USAG used to help protect Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016 as allegations against him began to mount. Bono’s resignation doesn’t change the underlying problem: Time and again, USA Gymnastics has ignored the voices of its own athletes in an effort at self-preservation. Even back in 2016, more than a year before the Nassar story went public nationally and Nassar himself was charged with criminal sexual conduct, USA Gymnastics’ investigators told three-time Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman to “remember that there are risks in sharing information at this point” and former USA Gymnastics president Steve Penny told Raisman to keep “quiet and confidential and” include “very few people in the loop” regarding what Nassar had done to her. By hiring Mary Bono, whose previous employer helped to cover up Nassar’s crimes — contributing to the continued abuse of more than a dozen of Nassar’s victims at Michigan State and at least one USA Gymnastics member gym — USA Gymnastics once again prioritized its own self-interest over the victims of sexual abuse. Even after more than 150 women testified about what Nassar did to them and their loved ones, even after threats of decertification by the United States Olympic Committee forced the resignations of US Gymnastics’ entire board, USA Gymnastics still put itself ahead of its athletes. Bono’s connections to a cover-up Mary Bono, a former Republican US representative who served in Congress for 15 years from 1998 to 2013, was made interim president and chief executive of USA Gymnastics on October 12. But before Bono became president of USA Gymnastics, she served as senior vice president of Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting, a fact that was mentioned in the USA Gymnastics press release announcing her appointment. What USA Gymnastics didn’t mention was that USA Gymnastics worked with a Faegre Baker Daniels employee named Scott D. Himsel to help the organization concoct cover stories to explain why Larry Nassar was not present at major competitions that took place in 2015 and 2016 in the run-up to the 2016 Olympics in Rio, including saying that Nassar was ill and that he was focusing on his “private practice.” By doing so, USA Gymnastics helped Nassar not only avoid public scrutiny, but allowed him to keep working at USA Gymnastics member gyms and at Michigan State University, where he continued to molest young athletes. USA Gymnastics also did not add Nassar to its “banned” list, for people who are permanently separated from the sport for rules violations. It’s not clear whether Bono was involved in helping concoct the cover-up, but as senior vice president, she was a high ranking person in the firm. In 2013, the firm described her role as utilizing “her firsthand media relations experience to advise clients on media and strategic communications matters.” In January 2018, Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing hundreds of young people, in addition to 60 years in prison for federal child pornography convictions. From the Indianapolis Star in May 2018: In one of the emails, Indianapolis attorney Scott D. Himsel told Nassar his medical techniques were under investigation, and “it is in everyone’s best interest” that Nassar not attend a gymnastics event that weekend. Himsel said USA Gymnastics would tell people Nassar was not attending for “personal reasons.” Nassar replied: “Can we just say that i am sick? That would make more sense to everyone. Would that be ok?” Himsel agreed to have USA Gymnastics use that story... At least 14 more women and girls say they were sexually assaulted after June 2015, when USA Gymnastics received what it has said was its first complaint about Nassar. Team USA athletes were furious In reaction to Bono’s hiring, the same gymnasts who took on USA Gymnastics over their handling of a sexual abuser called for action. Raisman drew attention to the organization’s hiring of Bono on Twitter on Monday, saying that she and others had reported Nassar to USA Gymnastics in 2015, and that Faegre Baker Daniels — Bono’s firm — was also aware. “Why hire someone associated with the firm that helped cover up our abuse?” she wrote. My teammates & I reported Nassar's abuse to USAG in 2015. We now know USOC & lawyers at Faegre Baker Daniels (Mary Bono's firm) were also told then, yet Nassar continued to abuse children for 13 months!? Why hire someone associated with the firm that helped cover up our abuse? — Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) October 15, 2018 Clearly this is not a “new” USAG. Same corrupt decisions. Perhaps it’s because true accountability is less likely if authority is placed in the hands of someone similarly motivated to avoid it .... — Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) October 15, 2018 USAG & USOC do you even care? You have let me down more than I ever thought was possible. I never imagined you’d handle this so horribly. Please read the pic attached and understand WHY I am so upset and why I care so much. The adults in charge must protect children. pic.twitter.com/ayrVQv2dEm — Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) October 16, 2018 Kaylee Lorincz, a former gymnast who was abused by Nassar and who gave a victim’s impact statement during Nassar’s trial in Lansing, Michigan, in January also spoke out on Twitter, saying to Bono, “You owe me an explanation of why you and your firm allowed Larry to abuse me in 2016 after you were well aware that he was abusing little girls.” You owe me an explanation of why you and your firm allowed Larry to abuse me in 2016 after you were well aware that he was abusing little girls. https://t.co/a6Xwl9S2vJ — Kaylee Lorincz (@KayleeLorincz) October 15, 2018 USA Gymnastics’ abjectly poor handling of Nassar, and of an epidemic of sexual abuse that has taken place at USA Gymnastics member gyms over the past three decades, had already cost the organization two presidents. After former president Steve Penny resigned in March 2017, USA Gymnastics hired Kerry Perry. But her term as president only lasted nine months, and included congressional testimony on the Nassar scandal that one Congress member called “despicable” for its lack of an apology to his victims. Perry also attempted to hire one of Nassar’s early defenders, Mary Lee Tracy, to a high-level role within USA Gymnastics as elite development coordinator. In a statement following Perry’s firing, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who serves as the ranking member on the Senate subcommittee that oversees the United States Olympic Committee, said: Throughout her disastrous nine-month tenure as president of U.S.A. Gymnastics, Perry demonstrated nothing but a willful and heartless blindness to the concerns of survivors who were abused by Larry Nassar. As president, Perry perpetuated U.S.A.G.’s complicity with Nassar’s horrific actions with her stunning and utterly shameful appearance before Congress in July and utterly misguided hiring of Mary Lee Tracy as the organization’s new elite development coordinator. “don’t worry, it’s not like we needed a smarter usa gymnastics president” Bono’s connections to the firm that helped USA Gymnastics cover up an investigation into Nassar’s crimes hasn’t been her only misstep.<doc-sep>How difficult is it for USA Gymnastics, an organization whose inability to deal with sexual abuse now overshadows its distinguished Olympic history, to find a leader who will put athletes first? A few months after longtime president Steve Penny resigned in March 2017, Kerry Perry took over as president and CEO. She stepped into a leadership void and failed to fill it, making a disastrous appearance on Capitol Hill to answer questions about the Larry Nassar abuse scandal, ducking from reporters, and drawing criticism from athletes and clubs for inaction. The decision to hire Mary Lee Tracy, a coach who feuded with Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman and other athletes who decried abuse allegations and other problems in the sport, to a top federation position was the last straw. Perry resigned last month. Enter Mary Bono, best known for succeeding her late husband, the musician Sonny Bono, to Congress. After losing a reelection bid in 2012, she moved to Faegre Baker Daniels, a Washington consulting firm that drew fire for its work with USA Gymnastics from the legal team representing Raisman and many other athletes who have alleged sexual abuse at the hands of Nassar, a longtime US national team doctor now likely to spend the rest of his life in prison. Bono was named interim president of USA Gymnastics on Friday. She didn’t last long. Within a day, gymnastics fans had unearthed a tweet from Bono, in which she drew over a Nike swoosh on her shoes in reaction to the company’s ad campaign featuring outspoken former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. That tweet drew the ire of the most famous gymnast in the world, Simone Biles. “It’s not like we needed a smarter usa gymnastics president or any sponsors or anything,” wrote the Olympic champion, who is also sponsored by Nike, on Twitter. By Tuesday, Bono was gone, leaving with a petulant statement about the first amendment. While Bono does indeed have the right to say whatever she wants – even if it’s boneheaded – did USA Gymnastics or the US Olympic Committee do their research? Why wasn’t someone told to look through Bono’s Twitter history to see if there was anything that could cause friction with athletes? Was her history with a law firm that had drawn the anger of other gymnasts taken into account? If the saga was a simple matter of athletes complaining about trivial matters, perhaps the likes of Penny, Perry and Bono would merit some sympathy. But this isn’t about team selection or a choice of hotels during tournaments. This is about abuse. While Bono was in no way to blame for the Nassar scandal, her hasty appointment and exit is a sign of the dysfunction in an organization that looks after young athletes. This is about reassuring parents that USA Gymnastics is stable enough to ensure that their daughters (and, for that matter, sons) won’t end up in a courtroom reliving the horrors of their teen years. As well as the Bono disaster, USA Gymnastics has taken a few steps to bring in new leadership. At the insistence of the US Olympic Committee, which itself has dealt with internal soul-searching and external criticism as abuse scandals unfolded in several sports, most of the USAG board of directors resigned. (The board does not include the president/CEO position, and a couple of athlete directors continued to serve on an interim board and now on the full board.) It’s not as if no one is interested in helping USA Gymnastics get back on its feet. The interim board’s 26 February minutes show 144 candidates interested in serving on that board. (From the context, it’s unclear whether this total includes only candidates for the independent director slots or all board positions.) The interim board basically kept the wheels turning, approving World Championship selection procedures among other routine business, while going about the process of replacing itself. Eventually, more than half of the interim board became the full-fledged board. The new chair, Karen Golz, is one of the independent directors who joined the interim board. But by a random draw to stagger the terms of the new board members, her term is due to expire on 31 December. The new board had its first meeting on July. The first order of business, after welcoming the new faces, was to announce the departure of legal counsel Tom James. Later in the minutes, the not-yet-departed president Perry reported that membership numbers were up to 209,710, a small miracle under the circumstances. But that membership increase just shows how popular and essential this sport is to the United States – and why it needs strong leadership. Olympics of the past 34 years, dating back to the 1984 Los Angeles Games, have brought forth a steady stream of household names – Mary Lou Retton, Peter Vidmar, Bart Conner, Shannon Miller, Kerri Strug, Gabby Douglas … and Raisman and Biles, who have repeatedly raised their voices for change. Time will tell how many more changes will be needed before USA Gymnastics can truly move forward. But at the moment it appears there’s a long way to go.<doc-sep>Raisman, who joined Lorincz and scores of other victims in giving statements detailing their experiences with Nassar’s abuse at a lengthy sentencing hearing in January at which he was given a term of 40 to 175 years, tweeted on Monday, “My teammates and I reported Nassar’s abuse to USAG in 2015. We now know [the U.S. Olympic Committee] and lawyers at Faegre Baker Daniels [Mary Bono’s firm] were also told then, yet Nassar continued to abuse children for 13 months!? Why hire someone associated with the firm that helped cover up our abuse?”<doc-sep>
Inexplicably and unbelievably, USA Gymnastics is back in the news again. The organization that brought us the largest sexual abuse scandal in sports history announced Friday that it had hired as its interim CEO a principal from the law firm that helped the governing body cover up Larry Nassar’s assaults on numerous young gymnasts. This is an untenable decision that must be overturned immediately. The new CEO, former Congresswoman Mary Bono, must step down, or the national governing body must remove her. There is no third option. The trust of the athletes and the nation in an organization teetering on the brink of moral collapse depends on this swift action. Bono’s LinkedIn profile lists her as a principal at the law firm Faegre Baker Daniels from March 2013 to the present. During that time, the Indianapolis Star reported that the firm worked with USA Gymnastics officials to provide “false excuses” for Nassar’s absence from major gymnastics events in 2015 rather than disclose to parents and gymnasts that Nassar was under investigation for child sexual abuse. It doesn’t matter if Bono knew nothing about this. It doesn't matter that she was in the firm's Washington office dealing with legislation strategies and policies. USA Gymnastics is in the midst of a crisis the likes of which we have never before seen in the history of the U.S. Olympic movement. It cannot be led, even on an interim basis, by someone with any ties to that scandal, ties Bono certainly has by being associated in any way with the law firm. More:Simone Biles is not happy with new interim CEO of USA Gymnastics More:USA Gymnastics names Mary Bono interim president and CEO One would think the USA Gymnastics board of directors would have been extremely sensitive to these issues, particularly after having just gotten rid of the previous CEO, Kerry Perry, who turned out to be a public-relations nightmare. There have to be thousands of Americans who would be qualified for this job who haven’t been associated with Faegre Baker Daniels. So what did they do? They selected someone who worked at the darn law firm. If this weren’t so incredibly sad for the gymnasts the governing body is supposed to serve, it would be absolutely hilarious. There’s more. It so happens that a month ago, Bono tweeted a picture of what appears to be her criticism of Nike’s endorsement deal with Colin Kaepernick, blacking out the Nike logo on her golf shoes. The tweet, sitting there clear as day on her Twitter feed, somehow eluded the USA Gymnastics board as it did its background check of Bono. Bono’s tweet did not elude multiple Olympic gold medalist and world champion Simone Biles, however, who took to Twitter in amazement. “Mouth drop,” she wrote. “Don’t worry, it’s not like we needed a smarter usa gymnastics president or any sponsors or anything.” Biles, a Nike athlete herself, was referring to the fact that USA Gymnastics remains without an apparel sponsor after several big-name companies dropped it in the fallout over the scandal in which Nassar molested hundreds of girls and young women, including Biles. There’s also the matter of the governing body’s encouragement of athletes to continue to speak out post-Nassar, now an open question in the wake of Bono’s tweet that appeared to be critical of Kaepernick’s protests. Bono said she “deeply” regrets the tweet, and the USA Gymnastics board said it is “disappointed” by her post, which it says it missed due to an “oversight.” My goodness, what a mess.