Rush received praise from across the aisle for his tough stance with McMahon. Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) commended Rush and said the WWE chairman should be put in the spotlight on the subject of performance-enhancing drugs.
“Someone who flips his finger at this committee deserves to be called out,” Terry said.
McMahon, however, said he wrote to the committee in January to say that his attorney, Jerry McDevitt, would be in Pittsburgh as lead counsel for another client on trial at the time of the hearing. That same Jan. 28 letter also stressed that McMahon’s decision not to appear without his counsel in “no way reflects unwillingness on the part of Mr. McMahon or WWE to assist the Subcommittee’s inquiry.”
Since the letter, McMahon told The Hill, “I have not heard one word from this committee.”
McMahon pointed out that Rush’s original invitation for him to appear said witnesses have a right to be accompanied by counsel under House rules. “He has been my personal lawyer for 20 years,” McMahon said of McDevitt.
McMahon also noted that he was interviewed by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee staff, and that the WWE had already provided roughly 3,000 pages of documents last summer to that committee and to Rush’s subcommittee for its own investigation into steroids.
“I have cooperated in every conceivable way,” said McMahon, who added that the WWE would still work with Rush’s subcommittee as it continues to probe performance-enhancing drugs in sports.
“I will continue to cooperate with the committee,” said McMahon.
Executives who did appear at the meeting, including National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern and National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell, offered little or no support for federal legislation on performance-enhancing drugs. Many players’ union representatives said that they have negotiated successful testing regimes through their collective bargaining agreements.
In his opening statement, Rush said he resented the “elitists, the cynics and cultural critics who dismiss this issue as a populist spectacle.”
“I believe that we can move forward in a measured, deliberative and bipartisan manner with legislation that seriously tackles drugs in sports,” he said.
Rush’s subcommittee had worked on steroids in the past, passing a bill out of his panel in the 109th Congress. But the legislation never received a floor vote. Sports league officials said such action was uncalled for, though.
“The sports leagues have pretty much gotten it right in the previous three years,” said Stern. “I would say this area is where federal legislation is not necessary.”
“Mr. Stern, I would suggest we have not got it right enough for the past three years,” replied Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).
However, though tough at times, lawmakers generally praised Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and others for taking steps to rid their leagues of steroids.
On the other hand, those who were not present — WWE’s McMahon and representatives for the sport of horseracing — faced the most criticism from the panel. Ranking member Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) entered into the hearing’s record e-mails to him from horse owners calling for federal action to rid the sport of steroids.
Several options were laid out before the league officials, such as supporting legislation that would adopt the recommendations of former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell’s (D-Maine) report into baseball’s steroids era. But except for Selig and Goodell, the sports league officials offered very little support for such a bill.
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