Dear Senator Feinstein,
I'm very upset that you are considering inserting yourself in the affairs of the United States Anti-Doping Agency. I'm a former elite cyclist who competed without the use of performance enhancing drugs and raced against Lance Armstrong and most of the witnesses against him at one point during my career. I have had numerous former teammates and competitors investigated by USADA and some have been sanctioned while others have not. From my understanding, the deciding factor between those who have been sanctioned, and those who have not, has had nothing to do with vendettas or witch hunts, as Mr. Armstrong alleges. It's been strictly based on evidence.
I believe USADA has done an excellent job of investigating and sanctioning athletes for drug use in olympic sports, in accordance with their mission as defined by the Amateur Sports Act. I think their $10 million annual budget is a small price to pay to help preserve fair competition and clean sport, as well as the reputation of United States athletes. No senators or representatives, including yourself, got involved when Phil Zajicek received a similar lifetime ban, for a similar "non-analytical positive." From what I can tell the treatment USADA has given athletes has been very uniform and consistent. What isn't uniform or consistent is legislators choosing to get involved in the process strictly for one athlete, when they never did so for others.
Mr. Armstrong's doping offenses were as great as any other athlete in the history of sport. You would have seen this, had he not opted out of arbitration. His actions had a profoundly negative effect on the image of US sports, the anti-doping process and especially on clean athletes such as myself. If USADA were to ignore these offenses it would be a case of gross negligence.
I would imagine that in justifying your involvement you probably use his foundation as reasoning. Please read the following article:
http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor....html?page=all for more information on the truth behind the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Take careful note of the distinctions between Livestrong.com and Livestrong.org and Mr. Armstrong's choice to use his charity to benefit himself.
Please uphold the honor of the United States Senate and continue to let the USADA do it's job protecting clean sport.
Sincerely,
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