The Alabama PSC Should Remain a Voice of the People

From the Matt Gentry campaign

As an elected sheriff starting my twelfth year in office, I know personally that public officials must be held accountable to the people they serve by listening to citizens’ concerns. As sheriff, I have had to notify families that their loved ones have passed away. I have sat with grieving parents whose children are addicted to drugs and tried to explain to families the randomness of why a mentally ill person chooses to kill someone decades later.

It is a responsibility and a burden I have carried proudly as an elected official, and I have always understood that I am accountable to the citizens I serve. I was blessed to be unopposed for re-election in 2018 and 2022.

I announced my candidacy for the Alabama Public Service Commission after hearing from people all over Alabama who want to see change at the PSC. I believe that change can occur through the current process by electing new leadership to the Commission.

Eliminating the people’s voice and changing the PSC to an appointed body removes the public from the process entirely. An elected official is far closer to the people and better able to hear their concerns than an appointed bureaucratic board.

I fear that appointing, rather than electing, Public Service Commissioners would only make the PSC further out of touch with Alabama consumers.

I urge Republican members of the Alabama House and Senate to vote against HB 392 and SB 268 and keep the Public Service Commission an elected body.

Sheriff Matt Gentry

Candidate for Alabama Public Service Commission, Place 1

For more information about Matt Gentry and his campaign, visit www.MattGentryForPSC.com or follow @MattGentryForPSC on Facebook.

Editor’s note: HB392 passed out of House Committee on Tuesday and now goes to the full House for further consideration. That Committee meeting was reported by ALPolitics.com earlier at THIS LINK.