http://www.belleville.com/mld/newsdemocrat/7749791.htm
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Posted on Tue, Jan. 20, 2004
Costello pushes hearings on Cheney
BY BETH HUNDSDORFER
bhundsdorfer@bnd.com
U.S. Rep Jerry Costello has called for impeachment hearings against U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney during Congress' session that begins today.
Costello called for hearings Saturday while on the Iowa caucus campaign trail with fellow U.S. House of Representatives member and presidential candidate Dick Gephardt, according to the Drudge Report.
Costello questioned the award of billions of dollars of contracts to Cheney's former corporation Haliburton to extinguish fires and rebuild Iraq's oil infrastructure after the war.
"Can you imagine what the Republicans would be doing to a Democratic president who was a CEO of a company that now has gotten billions of dollars worth of contracts -- no-bid contracts -- without competition?" Costello, D-Belleville, was quoted as saying.
"There would be hearings day after day. And my prediction to you is that you will see in this session of Congress ..., there will not only be hearings, but I think there ought to be impeachment hearings."
So far, Haliburton has earned more than $2 billion from the war contracts.
Cheney headed Haliburton from 1995 to 2000, when he quit to become George W. Bush's running mate.
Costello delivered the speech at the Sundance Lodge in Clinton, Iowa, on Saturday afternoon after Gephardt's plane was grounded due to the fog.
Costello, who was in Burlington, Iowa, on Monday, could not be reached for comment Monday.
Bob Krajnovich, who hosted the event for Gephardt, said he heard Costello's speech.
"He talked about the war contracts at the end, when he was taking questions from the audience. He was really fired up," Krajnovich said.
An audience member also asked Costello about a meeting between then-energy trading giant Enron officials and Cheney -- just as Cheney was forming energy policy.
The General Accounting Agency sued Cheney after he refused to release documents about who and when he met with before formulating the country's energy policy.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided to hear Cheney's appeal.
The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that Cheney spent last week duck hunting in Louisiana with one of the Supreme Court Justices who may decide the case -- U.S. Supreme Court Judge Antonin Scalia.
Costello, who serves on the energy subcommittee, was elected to Congress in 1988.
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