MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Public Service Commissioner Terry Dunn drew pushback last year when he sought formal hearings on the rates charged by Alabama Power and natural gas companies.
This election season he is drawing opposition from three Republicans who disagreed with him and are seeking to unseat him from the state panel that regulates utilities in Alabama.
A quartet of Republicans are competing for Place 2 on the Public Service Commission - Dunn, media production company owner Jonathan Barbee, former Greene County Commission Chairman Chris “Chip” Beeker and Alabama Minority GOP chairman Phillip Brown. The GOP primary will be held June. 3. There is no Democrat in the race.
Dunn, 54, said he is running on his record, saying electrical rates have remained flat and there has been a small decrease in gas rates.
“We need somebody to look after the consumers and that’s what I try to do. Let the consumers know what is going on and make sure that pendulum isn’t swinging to the utility side like it has been for 30 years,” Dunn said.
Dunn had urged the regulatory board to hold the first formal rate hearings in 30 years. His two fellow commissioners, also Republicans, disagreed and the board held informal reviews.
“I think it was the right thing to do because we never would have had an informal if I hadn’t pushed for a formal hearing,” Dunn said.
Dunn said he has been the subject of false accusations ever since.
“The fear of environmentalists and all that. That was just a scare tactic to change the subject. They started saying I was RINO (Republican in name only) and that didn’t stick. So they started saying I was against coal. Coal is always going to stay in the mix,” he said.
Brown, 48, is an automotive technology teacher at Minor High School in Birmingham. Brown is making his first bid for public office, but has been active and vocal in Republican politics for years.
He serves on the Alabama Republican Party steering committee. He is also chairman of the Alabama Minority GOP, a group that tries to broaden the party’s reach to minorities.
Brown said he felt it was time to get off the sidelines and be an advocate for ratepayers.
“If they want somebody who will really stand up and speak for the citizens of Alabama, then their best option is me,” Brown said.
“Our problem is not the EPA. It’s not the federal government overreach. Our problem is the fact that we have way too many people in political circles who are politicians and not statesmen. People who do not have the courage and the common sense to understand what the problem is, seek a solution and then stand up on what they think the solution is and do it regardless of the public opposition,” Brown said.
Some of the candidates in the race have spent much of the campaign lashing out at a political foe -not their opponents, but President Barack Obama and his energy policies.
However, the Public Service Commission has little role in federal energy regulation.
Barbee, 35, said the PSC can be a voice of resistance.
“When he orders these strict guidelines to these power plants that are already under strict guidelines, there are things that the Public Service commissioner’s office can do to make that very difficult for them. Now, we may not win, but the point is to make it difficult for the federal government to come into our state and try to manage our natural resources and try to tell us how to live,” Barbee said.
Barbee is the executive producer at Media Works Communications. He is also a member of the Alabama Republican Party Executive Committee
Barbee said the PSC “has to have more transparency.”
“We have to get the people involved more. Right now they are not doing that. People all over this state don’t even know what the PSC office is. I think that puts the consumer at a disadvantage,” Barbee said.
Beeker, 65, has also made Obama a central campaign theme. Beeker, like Brown and Barbee, disagreed with Dunn’s request for formal rate hearings.
“Until the president, Mr. Obama, calls off his dogs, rates are going to skyrocket,” Beeker said.
“As long as the dogs are here and they are fighting, I’m not going to give them anything to hit back at the state of Alabama with which I think formal rate hearings would do that,” Beeker said.
Beeker, who was a member of the Greene County Commission for 20 years, owns Beeker Catfish and Cattle Farms in Eutaw.
He ran for the PSC in 2010 but lost the GOP primary to Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, who’s now the commission president.
Beeker is far outpacing his opponents in raising money, with more than $160,000 in contributions. His contributors include the political action committee of the Alabama Farmers Federation, a drilling company and the Alabama Coal Cooperative.
The other candidates have largely financed their campaigns with smaller contributions and loans to themselves.
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