Posted on 07/19/2006 6:14:56 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Hooper winner in bitter contest Wednesday, July 19, 2006 By BEN RAINES Staff Reporter Perry Hooper Jr. defeated John Amari in Tuesday's runoff election, earning the Republican nomination for the state Public Service Commission, Place 2. Hooper will face Democrat Susan Parker, a former state auditor, in the Nov. 7 general election.
Amari and Hooper fought a bitter contest, notable for the rancor expended bashing each other, especially in the days before the June 6 primary. Hooper led the primary race, with Amari second and former PSC employee Jack Hornaday a close third.
"I look forward to carrying my message statewide. I'm hoping we can get through all the political rhetoric and start talking about issues," Hooper said, moments after learning he had won.
"I'd like to take the PSC on the road and have these hearings all over the state. I've been all over the state, and no one knows what the Public Service Commission is, what it does or where it meets. I want to put the public back in the PSC."
The primary task of the Public Service Commission is to set the rates that private utility companies -- such as Alabama Power Co. or Mobile Gas Service Corp. -- are allowed to charge customers. The commission also regulates the profits the utilities are allowed to collect.
Hooper and Parker will face off over a seat on the three-member PSC being vacated by two-term commissioner George Wallace Jr., who lost Tuesday in his bid for lieutenant governor. Commissioner Jan Cook will face former Republican state Sen. John Rice in a race for her seat on Nov. 7. PSC president Jim Sullivan's seat will not be contested until 2008. Commissioners serve four-year terms.
Both Hooper and Amari served in the Legislature for many years.
In this campaign, Amari took every opportunity to remind voters of Hooper's past troubles with the State Ethics Commission, which included the largest fine ever meted out by the ethics panel. Amari's campaign literature contained slogans such as "If Perry Hooper Jr. wins, we lose. Elect anybody else."
After the votes were counted Tuesday, Amari said, "I want to congratulate Perry Hooper Jr. on his victory tonight. I look forward to supporting him in the fall."
Hooper raised and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars more than Amari, or anyone else running for the PSC this year, Republican or Democrat. Hooper credited his time as a state legislator and warm public memories of his father, former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Perry Hooper Sr., for generating the election windfall that came his way, including $95,000 since the June 6 primary. Amari raised about $38,000 during the entire campaign.
Throughout the campaign, Hooper's opponents, particularly Amari, have suggested he was receiving contributions linked to the utilities he would regulate on the PSC. He has received $85,000 from political action committees run by a former Alabama Power vice-president.
Parker, Hooper's opponent in November, said she was amazed at the amount of money Hooper had been able to raise between the primary and the runoff. Parker, who spoke to a Kiwanis Club in Talladega on Tuesday, said she hoped to bridge the funding gap through old-fashioned meet-and-greet campaigning. Parker was elected state auditor in 1998 and ran against Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, for the U.S. Senate in 2002.
"I'll be doing a lot of grass-roots work. I doubt I'll ever have as much money as he will have, but I'll have enough with a good grass-roots organization to win the race," Parker said. "I'm looking forward to the campaign. I'm excited about the opportunity to talk about my record as state auditor, a record of honesty, integrity and hard work. And it's a record of success in bringing efficiency to state government."
I'm curious.
Why would a seat on the PSC generate such rancor on the GOP side?
Did Amari and Hooper have a blood rivalry that went back to when they were in the Legislature?
Biographical information on Perry Hooper, Jr., a candidate for the Alabama Public Service Commission:
Political party: Republican
Date of birth: September 5, 1954 (51)
Hometown: Montgomery
Education: Bachelor's degree from Auburn University; law degree from Jones Law School in Montgomery.
Professional background: Vice President of Palomar Insurance Corp. since 1991.
Political background: Served in the Alabama House of Representatives from 1983 to 2002. Son of former Chief Justice Perry Hooper, Sr.
Hooper is another one of those political families in Alabama
The losing candidate -- John Amari -- is a RINO. But the real fight was more about Montgomery Insider (Hooper) vs. Birmingham Insider (Amari).
Former Chief Justice Perry Hooper Sr. is one of the founders of the modern-day Republican Party in Alabama and has been a delegate to every Republican National Convention since 1960. But not this year.
Perry's opponents contend that he falsified his resume by stating he graduated from Auburn rather that Auburn University at Montgomery (AUM). That's splitting hairs if you ask me.
Yet, much ado has been made about his receiving contributions from PAC's run by former employees of Alabama Power. Incidentally, Perry holds the record for the biggest fine ($12,000) ever handed down by the Alabama Ethics Commission. Unlike his father, who I have the utmost respect for, Perry Jr. is a RINO.
Is Perry, Sr., who was born in 1925, still living?
Yes, he's alive and kicking - he ran Junior's campaign. Judge Hooper used to ride his bike several miles every day to and from the courthouse. I believe he was Probate Judge at the time. Interestingly enough, Karl Rove worked on Senior's campaign for Chief Justice in 1994.
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