Lance Armstrong on Bonds: Doping hunt “Waste of taxpayer dollars”

Lance Armstrong, the seven time Tour de France champion, through his representatives, calls the recent performance enhancing drugs trial against former baseball star Barry Bonds a Waste of taxpayer dollars. Bonds played on the San Francisco Giants for 15 years, from 1993-1997.

Recently, Armstrong's former teammate Tyler Hamilton appeared on 60 Minutes and accused Armstrong of doping. In addition, Hamilton alleges that Armstrong encouraged doping on his teams as well as participated in a positive drug test cover up.

The reason for the statements on taxpayer dollars is presumably to compare the Bonds' investigation and trial to the ongoing federal investigation into Armstrong's alleged use of performance enhancing drugs.

What is interesting about the statement is that by speaking about the Bonds' case, Armstrong's representatives are drawing attention to a comparison between Bonds and Armstrong.

On his website, Armstrong's representatives have listed a number of quotes from various news sources describing the Waste of taxpayer dollars in Bonds' case.

Here are all the quotes listed by Armstrong's representatives in full text:

After all, they spent roughly ten years and more than $55 million trying to convict Barry Bonds and other professional athletes in the BALCO case. They largely failed in their highest profile efforts. (Atlantic, April 19, 2011)

The time and taxpayer dollars spent pursuing Bonds could have been spent more wisely given that Bonds is unlikely to spend more than a few months in prison, if any at all. (No sentencing date was announced; the defense is likely to appeal the verdict.) Sure, the publicity from his case might serve as a warning to others who consider lying before a grand jury, but a public-service announcement during, say, a Super Bowl broadcast, would have cost less and been far more effective. (SI.com, April 13, 2011)

Novitzky and his crew can now claim their biggest conviction with Bonds, but it's a hollow win. While it's admirable that they went after Bonds when baseball refused to, it's hard to justify the years of work and the money spent for the relatively insignificant conviction they finally won. (Associated Press, April 14, 2011)

It was the Bush Justice Department that has spent more than $50 million on this investigation, and million more giving government a permanent role in policing drugs in sports. (ABC News, March 1, 2009)

The only way to see the indictment of Bonds is as a gross, terrible injustice, a startling abuse of power and a waste of taxpayer money. (ESPN.com, November 19, 2007)

Why did whatever Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Marion Jones said (or didn't say) become worthy of a $55 million federal investigation? (Playboy, 2009)

After a six-year, $50 million exploration of performance enhancement in sports, it's worth considering what we've gained. The $600 is still missing. A Treasure report found, after a year investigating Novitzky and other IRS agents, that Solvability factors are not present and do not justify any continued investigation. (Playboy, 2009)

This past year Judge Illston, who presided over the steroid cases, indicated she thought the federal government's resources were being wasted. She sentenced the two latest individuals convicted in BALCO, the cyclist Tammy Thomas and track coach Trevor Graham, to home detention over the desperate objections of prosecutors. At Graham's sentencing, she said pointedly, I don't view sending Mr. Graham to prison as a useful exercise for this government at this time. (Playboy, 2009)

The BALCO investigation, whose primary target has been MLB home run king Barry Bonds, has cost taxpayers in the United States over $55 million and counting. (Steroids Rx, February 10, 2009)