Cavanaugh Getting a Leg Up in PSC Race
Here’s another event where Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh was the sole Republican PSC presidential candidate invited though all GOP candidates (or, in this case, both) for another position were invited. How does she do that?
A trio of Republicans running in next month’s primary election brought their campaigns to Huntsville.
Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, a candidate for Public Service Commission president, and Mary Windom and Chris Mixon, rivals for the Place 2 position on the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, were guests at a luncheon Tuesday hosted by the Huntsville Republican Women.
A reader close to a rival campaign tells the Parlor that GOP PSC presidential candidates Matt Chancey and Jack Hornady were not aware of the event. Looks like Cavanaugh is starting out as the presumptive nominee or her campaign is doing a terrific job of creating that impression.
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Danny - what this is is that Twinkle - as a former party chair - is using that connection to “shut out” the other candidates. It smells. Like excrement on a very hot day.
The party should do something about it - but Mike Hubbard is too busy attemtpting to hand-pick candidates in the primary himself (see: Jay Love campaign).
It would be slightly less abhorent if the party bigwigs selected decent candidates. However, Twinkle is clearly unqualified to be on the PSC -one of the worst candidates in memory, even worse than Tanman Perry Hooper Jr. - and Love is at best a mediocre state rep with a questionable, pro-union past. So the party insiders are serving the Great Unwashed swill and expecting us to love it.
This practice of hand-picking and shafting candidates must stop. NOW.
Comment by Anonymous — May 9, 2008 @ 12:50 pm
A lot of people on these GOP clubs know Twinkle, and of course she is using those connections. But the party clubs should not be actively favoring Twinkle, and if she is using the clubs (and requesting she be the only candidate to get exposure)it is simply wrong. This will damage the party long term, although my feeling is that the party has already done this to some extent in past elections.
Apparently some in the party want her to have the nomination. That’s fine. But using the party to actively campaign for one candidate, as Twinkle is doing, is very bad. She deserves to be rejected for that, in addition to the fact that she is not up to the job.
Comment by Not for Twinkle — May 9, 2008 @ 1:00 pm
Ah, Mike Hubbard, the architect of the GOP disaster in 2006. Isn’t he on the Democrats payroll? If not, he should be.
Twinkle is an airhead who makes Lucy Baxley look like intelligent.
Comment by Andy Jackson — May 9, 2008 @ 1:44 pm
Here is exclusive footage of Twinkle on the stump in Huntsville:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UMZXht518us
Comment by Exclusive Footage of Twinkle on the Stump — May 9, 2008 @ 1:52 pm
And for all of you folks ccomplaining about how Twinkle has NO EXPERIENCE, here is VIDEO PROOF she has experience with RAILROADS . . . .doesn’t the PSC regulate those???
http://youtube.com/watch?v=86by6m6He7A
Comment by Exclusive Footage of Twinkle on the Stump — May 9, 2008 @ 1:57 pm
Sometime looks funny about her left eye.
Comment by William Wyatt Wallace — May 9, 2008 @ 3:04 pm
These events are typically listed on the calender of upcoming events on the ALGOP website. Candidates need not wait to be invited. Good candidates typically call county chairmen, club presidents, etc and find out when they are meeting and ask if they can attend.
Comment by Susan Fillippeli — May 9, 2008 @ 5:01 pm
She will win the Republican nomination, but she maybe forced into a run-off
Comment by JJ — May 9, 2008 @ 6:57 pm
Ok, so was Twinkle invited (as the blog post says), or did she invite herself (per Susan’s comment)?
Comment by GK — May 9, 2008 @ 7:22 pm
There are three Republican Women’s Clubs in Madison County: The Republican Women of Huntsville, The Twickenham Republican Women’s Club, and The Republican Women of Madison. All of these clubs are worthwhile clubs for primary candidates to visit. A candidate doesn’t need an invitation to attend, and they are always receptive to all Republican candidates.
I think Twinkle’s advantage is that as a former statewide candidate and having active in Republican circles throughout the state, she already knows many of the members and has many friends in the clubs. It’s nothing diabolical, people are drawn toward folks they know and like rather than someone they don’t know.
I were the other candidates, I’d get up to Huntsville and visit these clubs, but it’s probably too late. They should have been visiting these clubs a year ago.
Comment by Mike Ball — May 10, 2008 @ 12:20 pm
OK mike, so twinkle knows all the key repub primary players, does that qualify her to make million dollar public trust decisions? Of course not, it merely qualifies her to know the key players in the repub primary. Twinkle would make a good county commissioner or even a city council person. But, Twinkle on the PSC is akin to Perry, Jr., on the PSC.
Alabama Power will own her before the ink is dry on her oath. But, that is exactly what the power company seeks, the path of least resistance.
It would be a worthwhile exercise to study the abolishment of the PSC. Tennessee abolished there PSC about 15 yrs ago. The electric rates went down and are today, still lower than they were prior to abolishment. I guess its kinda like having a CON board. Useless as Ti*s on a boar hog. Just consider the corruption that ensues from that board and the considerable antitrust issues that board must consider. Well, look at the ED of the CON board, no economics background at all, but a fine degree from Jones School of Law and Front End Alignment. (apologies to modern day Jones School of Law, that is fully accredited by the ABA, but was not ever accredited in history until last year)
Comment by publius — May 10, 2008 @ 10:59 pm
There is no denying that Twinkle is using her past position with the party for an “insiders” advantage in this run.
It would be in the interest of the party for Mike Hubbard and others to end the appearance -an in all probability, FACT- of impropriety. Howver, it would appear that Hubbard has no interst in stopping this sort of thing,and is instead an active partcipant in the effort to “handpick” nominees (Jay Love for Congress being the most ignoble example).
AEA polling has shown that Hornday is even with Twinkle. If he - and others who the GOP chairman’s office have tried to “shut out” of the process - win, they will be in a position to have a discussion of the behaviour of Mr. Hubbard after the primaries. A very nice long discussion.
Comment by Anonymous — May 11, 2008 @ 9:16 am
The State Party does not exercise control over the local GOP clubs. The clubs are free to invite whomever they wish. I can tell you that, as a leader of one of the local clubs, I think it is inappropriate to invite only one candidate in a contested primary to speak at a club meeting. Clubs should feel an obligation to invite all of the candidates in a contested primary so that their members (and the general public) have the opportunity to become informed about the positions of all of the candidates and be able to make a more informed decision at the poll. However, if a club does what I think is the wrong thing and takes sides in a contested primary, it’s not the fault of the State Party. Blame lays solely at the feet of the clubs themselves.
Comment by Anonymous — May 12, 2008 @ 9:51 am