Dems blame Cheney for gasoline price surge

From CNN Correspondent Chris Black

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, North Carolina (CNN) -- Al Gore's presidential campaign unleashed another salvo Friday at Republican vice presidential candidate Dick Cheney, blaming his lobbying efforts for the international oil shortage that drove up gasoline prices in the United States this year.

Mark Fabiani, Gore's deputy campaign manager for communications, told reporters in a conference call that Cheney showed he was more interested in profits for the oil industry and his own energy services company than consumer prices in a speech he delivered at the Howard Weil Energy Conference on April 12, 1999.

Fabiani said Cheney delivered the speech immediately after completing a tour of the Mideast and Venezuela. As the chief executive officer of Halliburton Co., a Texas energy services firm, the former U.S. defense secretary met with high-ranking officials in those countries as a "good will" ambassador.

According to Fabiani, Cheney said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had "gotten its act together" to put curbs on production levels and stick to those limits. He said this was a cause for optimism for U.S. oil interests.

Cheney said OPEC would cut production by 2.1 million barrels a day, boosting the price of world oil and increasing the profits for oil companies. Cheney predicted the impact would not be felt on domestic oil and gas prices until late 1999 and early 2000, a prediction that proved to be accurate.

Though no text of the speech was immediately available, Bush campaign spokeswoman Karen Hughes said Cheney was simply speaking as "an advocate" for his company.

"At the time he had 100,000 employees who depended on him, and I would think you would expect someone who led a company with 100,000 employees would be an advocate for that company," she said.

"Remember the industry had been in a deep depression at the time," Hughes added. Cheney's company alone had recently announced the layoffs of more than 10,000 workers.

Fabiani said Cheney was hostile to the interests of U.S. consumers, particularly motorists in the Midwest who saw gas prices skyrocket this year. He said Cheney wanted international oil production down to create windfall profits for U.S. oil companies, which, in turn would generate more business for his company.

Indeed, said Fabiani, the stock price of Halliburton rose in tandem with oil company profits and in June, Cheney exercised a stock option worth $5.1 million.

The vice president and his wife Tipper, soon to be joined by all three of their children, are taking a vacation at this Atlantic beach resort during the Republican National Convention. The Democrats will nominate Gore at their convention, which begins Aug. 14 in Los Angeles. Gore has not yet picked a running mate.