"I have no doubt whatsoever, as the representative of the chief investor in the Salt Lake City Olympics, that Mitt Romney was single-handedly responsible for those Games being the immense success they were," said Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports & Olympics. "The list of people who could have pulled it off began and ended with Mitt Romney."

But despite his overall insistence on high ethical standards, Romney himself risked the appearance of conflicts by soliciting companies

Such as Staples and Marriott International that listed him on their boards of directors. As a director, he was responsible for protecting the companies' interests; as CMO of the organizing committee, he had promised to get the best deal for the Olympics.

Romney dismisses any conflict. "It is not a conflict of interest for the Olympics for its chief executive to be soliciting sponsorships from anyone I could find," he said in an e-mailed follow-up to an interview. "That was my job — to use every personal association I had to raise money."

To be sure, Romney's entanglements were nothing like those of the trustees who resigned when he took over, including Alan Layton, whose construction company received a $29 million contract from the organizing committee, and Earl Holding, whose ski area signed a $13.8 million dean with the committee.

But Romney did allow some trustees whose companies engaged in relatively small business with the committee to remain on the board.

"They removed the people who were the poster children for conflicts of interest," said Glenn Bailey, a leader of Salt Lake Impact 2002 and Beyond, a coalition of community groups. "But they still had conflicts."

Romney tolerated little dissent from trustees who aggressively questioned his decisions. While his many admirers in Salt Lake City viewed him as pristine, amiable and self-effacing, he developed an alternate image among a group of dissenters: petty, vindictive and self-aggrandizing.

His chief foe was Ken Bullock — no relation to Romney's friend and COO Fraser Bullock. Ken Bullock served on the organizing committee and also was executive director of the Utah League of Cities and Towns. Bullock believed his job with the league made him an official watchdog for the state's $59 million investment.

"He tried very hard to build an image of himself as a savior, the great white hope," Bullock said of Romney. "He was very good at characterizing and castigating people and putting himself on a pedestal."

The two clashed often, never more publicly than when Romney went nose to nose with Bullock at the state Capitol after Bullock failed to support Romney's request to defer repaying the state its $59 million.

"You don't want me as an enemy," Romney said in the corridor outside a conference room, according to Bullock. "Ted Kennedy and I get along. Why can't you and I?"

"I'm doing my job," Bullock replied.