US check to WADA comes with memo: ‘Sorry state of affairs’

By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer

DENVER (AP) — The U.S. government paid its remaining $1.3 million in dues to the World Anti-Doping Agency but delivered a brusque message along with the check. A government official called its absence from the regulator’s decision-making boards a “sorry state of affairs.” WADA President Witold Banka called the release of the funds a sign of support from the U.S. government. But a pair of letters written by the director of the White House drug control office, Rahul Gupta, and obtained by The Associated Press, revealed the money was given despite misgivings about America’s standing within the agency.