By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Candidate for Alabama Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Chairman of the Alabama Minority GOP, Phillip Brown, spoke to an estimated 33 members of the Greater Birmingham Young Republicans on Thursday in Birmingham at the Fox and Hound Pub.
Chairman Brown is the state chairman for the Alabama Minority Republican Party, serves on the Alabama Republican Party Steering Committee, and has announced that he is running for PSC Place 2 where he is challenging Republican incumbent Terry Dunn (R).
Brown said that he did not want to be in the pockets of the utilities that the PSC regulates and he did not want to be in the pocket of the environmentalists; “I want to be the genuine servant of the people of Alabama.”
Brown warned that the environmental lobby was trying to shut down Alabama’s coal burning electrical power plants.
Brown said that often, when he tells people that he is running for the PSC, people smirk. Brown said that many people in the state have a mental image of PSC commissioners that are well paid, come to work just a few days a month, and actually do little. Brown said that people have this view of the PSC because some commissioners in the past have actually justified this view by their performance. Brown said that the legislature was looking at the Public Service Commission and was questioning whether the Commission was worth the cost.
Brown said that the PSC Commissioners needed to learn to regulate themselves in order to get a good return for the people of Alabama.
Brown joins a crowded Republican field for PSC Place 2. Dunn has announced his intent to seek re-election and former Alabama Republican Party Spokesman Jonathon Barbee announced his intention to seek the Commission spot.
Brown said that he had considered running for PSC Place 1, because the incumbent (Jeremy Oden (R)) had never run for election before; but ran for Place 2 because he thought that Place 2 Commissioner Terry Dunn had too many ties to radical environmentalists.
Chairman Brown was born in Detroit, Michigan and was raised in Elba. He is the tenth of twelve children of the late Hayward and Jean Brown and is married to the former Diane Jones of Birmingham, Alabama. They live in the Birmingham area with their youngest daughter. They also have five older daughters and four grandchildren.
Phillip graduated from Faulkner University in Montgomery with a Bachelor Degree in Ministry and Biblical Studies. He is currently working on his master’s degree in Educational Administration.
Brown is the minister for the Sandusky Church of Christ in Birmingham and also works as a teacher for the Jefferson County Board of Education. Chairman Brown says that he, “Feels that his calling is to help to shape the hearts and minds of young people who face a world for which they are not fully prepared.”
