NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
May 3, 2004
 

HIGH GAS COST IS MOST CLOSELY FOLLOWED NATIONAL ISSUE:

    ▪DRIVE TO GET U.S. TO REMOVE IRAQ FROM OPEC GATHERS MOMENTUM

    ▪PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AND STATE PARTY ENDORSEMENTS

    ▪GOP WEBSITE SURVEY AGREES 95%; BUSINESS WEEK LETTER EXPLAINS

    ▪TEAMSTERS APPROVE OF PROTEST BY TRUCKERS BLOCKING FREEWAY

            Skyrocketing gasoline prices form the number one most closely followed public issue, surpassing the Iraq invasion by two to one.  American Enterprise Institute scholars Norman Ornstein and William Schneider reported these recent poll findings at a Washington, D. C. presentation carried by C-SPAN in mid-April. (www.aei.org)

            “We are calling on the President and Congress to reduce gas prices by removing Iraq from oil cartel OPEC,” stated Carl Olson, Chairman of State Department Watch, a nonpartisan foreign policy watchdog group headquartered in Washington, D. C.   “As the occupying power in Iraq, the U. S. government has unfortunately supported everything that OPEC has done for the past year.” (www.statedepartmentwatch.org)

            The National Federation of Republican Assemblies found in its website survey a 95% agreement with the question, “Should the US Led Occupation Government of Iraq Support Lower Oil Prices with its OPEC Vote?"  (www.gopwing.com)

            Presidential candidate Michael A. Peroutka of the Constitution Party, which is on the ballot in over 40 states, agrees with removing Iraq from OPEC, “The United States ought to avoid foreign entanglements and seek and develop our own supply of oil.”  (www.peroutka2004.com, www.constitutionparty.com)  The American Independent Party of California, an affiliate of the Constitution Party, has endorsed the removal of Iraq from OPEC for the platform of the national Constitution Party.  (www.aipca.org)

            Business Week raised the issue in its April 19 edition by printing a letter from Chairman Olson of State Department Watch, “Skyrocketing gas prices are primarily the result of the OPEC oil cartel’s ability to squeeze off production worldwide.  The U.S. government has been a de facto member of OPEC because of the occupation of Iraq.  The Bush Administration has supported everything OPEC has done in the past year.  President Bush could remove Iraq from OPEC with the stroke of a pen.  We wish he would.”

            Truck drivers in Southern California resorted to a freeway-blocking protest over high gas prices on Friday, April 30.  The International Brotherhood of Teamsters issued a supporting statement, “As the largest union representing transportation workers in the nation the Teamsters support the owner drivers in California that have chosen to stand up to the companies that have exploited them too long.”  (www.teamsters.com)  Gasoline prices have hit new highs over $1.80 per gallon.  They were about $1 per gallon at the beginning of 2002. 

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