Retired educator Robin Litaker is “sick of state agencies”.
Litaker is running for the Public Service Commission (PSC) Place 2 position, challenging incumbent PSC Commissioner Chris Beeker in the Republican primary. She recently addressed the Shelby County Republican Women, a group of which she is a previous president.
“The PSC is self-funded,” Litaker said. “Every year the Public Service Commission has a surplus. It went to the general fund. Why did it not come back to us?”
The PSC collects the taxes on all of the utility bills and uses that money to pay for the cost of regulating the utilities.
“I am predicting that before the primary, they will vote for a power bill decrease,” Litaker said. “They get back in office, and your bill goes [back] up.”
Litaker charged the incumbent PSC Commissioners with having a poor work ethic. She said she would go out and talk to people.
“This group of people are supposed to go to work every day," Litaker said. They are not going to work every day. These people make $107,000 plus retirement and insurance plus a car, a phone and a staff of three. If it is not a full-time job, don’t sit at home and go to a board meeting once a month and make $107,000 a year. If it is not a full-time job, I would go to the legislature and have it changed to part-time.
“Things are not fine, and they are not fine at the Public Service Commission. We need two new people out of this [election].”
This is not the first time Litaker has run for the PSC. In 2020, she challenged incumbent PSC President Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh in the Republican primary. Cavanaugh was re-elected with 462,979 votes – 73.8%. Litaker had 164,227 votes – 26.2%. She challenged Beeker in 2018. Beeker prevailed with 281,753 votes – 68.7%. Litaker received 128,587 votes – 31.3%.
“We are electing Republican chameleons,” Litaker said.
Litaker, as a career educator and former Alabama Teacher of the Year, opposes the Common Core standards, a topic that was brought up by the audience. She explained that state legislators are influenced by persons who are entrenched in the educational bureaucracy and ignore the concerns of parents or the general public.
“They talk to Erick Mackey,” Litaker said. “They talk to all of those agency people. They take their word for it. Some of those people have been there for 30 years.”
The education establishment claims that Alabama has adopted its own standards, the Alabama College and Career Ready Standards. Critics like Litaker claim that the state’s College and Career Ready Standards are aligned with Common Core. Whatever is being taught in Alabama, Alabama public schools consistently rank at or near the bottom of the country on measures of academic competency.
“We have got too many people in government that go along to get along," said Litaker. "Every Republican should not get on television with a gun over their shoulder and say they are a conservative."
Litaker was asked about the history of the PSC by a member of the audience.
“It began to regulate trains, and it is so outdated there is still a law on the books that a commissioner can ride the train for free and take their civil war weapon with them," Litaker said.
Beeker, Litaker, and Robert McCollum are all running for PSC Place 2 in the May 24 Republican Primary. Both PSC Place 1 and Place 2 are statewide races. There are no PSC districts.
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandon.moseley@1819News.com.
