CENTRE —Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, the former deputy chief of staff for Gov. Bob Riley, was in Cherokee County earlier this month to help the local GOP open its campaign headquarters on Main Street.

Cavanaugh, 44, who also served as the state’s Republican Party chair from 2005-07, was here to help local candidates and bring attention to her campaign for Jan Cook’s spot on the Alabama Public Service Commission.

Cavanaugh said one of the reasons she decided to run for Cook’s seat is that, over the past few years, she has discovered that her opponent seems to spend an lot of time not doing her job.

“I called the office four different times two years ago, before I decided to run, and I could never get a call back,” Cavanaugh said. “The other commissioners would call back but she never did. And I thought we needed better service from the PSC.”

Cavanaugh said the most important job the PSC has is to make sure no one in Alabama has to overpay for utilities, such as water, gas and electricity.
“If we want to have lower utility rates we’ve got to be there every day working to find ways to lower costs for the people,” she said.

Cavanaugh said that here in Cherokee County, the PSC has no control over electricity rates, because the Electric Cooperative is supplied by TVA, a federal agency.

Still, she said, despite the bottom-of-the-page placement on the Nov. 2 ballot, Cavanaugh said there is no position that has more control over the day-to-day lives of Alabamians.

The PSC probably more directly affects people’s wallets than any other position on the ballot,” she said.

Cavanaugh said lower utility rates, in particular, are vital to the state’s ongoing efforts to attack industry to Alabama.

“We need a one-year, five-year and 25-year plan,” she said. “Energy costs for 15-25 years from now are questions that industries have. If we could show them that Alabama has a plan it would be helpful.”