Tuesday, August 31, 2010 / WKSU News - Vivian Goodman
The dispute over who is hosting the Gay Games in Cleveland is heating up, with letters from lawyers over everything from trademarks to art work. But all sides still say they want the games in Cleveland in four years.
Hundreds of receipts, documents and e-mails involving the city of Cleveland, the Federation of Gay Games and the Cleveland Synergy Foundation document growing concerns in the spring and early summer over the foundation's ability to host the games in Northeast Ohio in 2014. And now a letter from the attorney for the federation to the attorney for the Synergy Foundation demands that Synergy stop using any material related to the Gay Games and stop presenting itself as the host because that's "factually incorrect and misleading."
The federation pulled the plug on Synergy in early July, saying it had violated the licensing agreement to host the games. That's about the same time Cleveland was raising questions about how little private money the foundation had raised for the games and about documentation for money the city had advanced to Synergy. Valarie McCall is chief of government affairs for Mayor Frank Jackson. She says she doesn't want to exaggerate the problems, but "These are taxpayers' money and we have a fiduciary responsibility to the public to ensure the trust. ... We live in Cuyahoga County right now and we're going to ensure we do everything by the books, here."
Synergy's attorney, John Climaco, would not comment on the record, but the group has insisted it is the legal licensee for the games, and has fulfilled it obligations.
The city fronted Synergy nearly $67,000 to win Northeast Ohio's right to host the games and approved $700,000 more to get the games going. Beyond the trademark demands, the letter from the federation also demands the return of arwork loaned to Synergy by a federation board member.
