Dear Supporter

Thank you for visiting my web site. I hope you will learn something about me in the next few minutes. After you do, please contact me to let me know of your support and how my campaign can address issues that are important to you and your family.

Throughout my career I have been committed to improving the lives of others. That has been the single guiding principle of my nearly 40 years in business, my two terms as mayor of my hometown, Florala, and serving the people of Alabama as assistant commissioner in the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries.                        

Now let me tell you a little about myself. I graduated from high school in Florala, and received my degree in Business Administration and Economics in 1969 from The University of West Alabama.

Along the way I found a young girl from Opp named Mary Jane Jeffcoat who was brave enough to say “yes” when I asked her to marry me 40 years ago. Mary Jane passed away recently but together we raised two now-married children and we have two grandchildren.

Along with our partner Milner Perry, my brothers and I poured ourselves into building a business in Florala, and Zorn Brother’s Inc. is still chugging away every day.

Zorn Brothers is very much a part of Florala and our entire state’s agribusiness. We’ve created a market for farmers who had nowhere else to sell their crops. And in 35 years of being in business, we’ve paid out more than 200 million dollars to those growers.

We operate one of only a few privately owned grain elevators in the entire State of Alabama. That may not mean much to non-farmers, but it does to those who harvest their crops to make a living. Without our elevator, hundreds of area growers would have no place to sell their crop.

But every year hasn’t been rosy. Our business has suffered in droughts just like the very people we serve and sell to, and we’ve enjoyed the bounty of good years, as well. We’ve been faced with tough decisions and wondering how we could keep the doors open to meet the next payroll. But we have always been committed to maintaining our independence and helping our area growers.

Somewhere along the way, back in about 1996, I decided I wanted to give something back to my community and I ran for mayor. I found myself constantly complaining about what was wrong, so I decided the best way I could affect change was to be a part of it.

It was an experience. I loved it so much I asked to be re-elected, and I was. We dressed up our industrial park and airport; we attracted some new businesses to Florala and added some much-need new jobs; we addressed some infrastructure issues and fixed some streets – and we built a nursing home.

That nursing home, completed in 2003, was built because of community support and involvement. It was a major accomplishment because there have only been a couple of skilled nursing homes built since then.

Then a man whom I’ve gotten to know very well asked me to help him win statewide office. When Ron Sparks asked me to help him run his campaign for Commissioner of Agriculture, I was flattered and very pleased. Here was a man from the other end of the state, in Ft. Payne, asking me to help him.

I couldn’t think of anything better I could do at the time to bring some focus on the very business that I made a living at every day. And so I said Yes.

Ron got elected and he asked me to join him in Montgomery. It was a tough decision to leave the mayor’s office and Florala, but we knew it made sense. I was proud to serve that first term with Ron, and after he was re-elected he asked me to stay on with him.

Since I’ve been there I learned there is a whole lot more to the Department of Agriculture than farming. It is really an agency that looks out for the consumer. For example, we check to make sure that scale at the grocery store cash register is calibrated to weigh your meats and vegetables; we inspect gas stations to make sure you are getting your dollar’s worth; we license your pest control companies. 

Together we fought the battles of food labeling – so you would know where your food comes from;

We stopped fish and consumer products from entering this country because of harmful ingredients and chemicals;

We expanded trade of Alabama agricultural products around the globe;

We championed the development and use of alternative fuels in this state when no one else was talking about ethanol and bio-diesel.

You have my commitment to continue this good work. But I believe there is work that remains to be done. For nearly 20 years I have had the pleasure of serving on the Choctawhatchee, Pea and Yellow Rivers Watershed Management Authority. While the rest of the state was talking about how to manage water resources, we were doing something about it. From that experience I know there is something I can bring to the remainder of the state.

If we can put a man on the moon, which we did 40 years ago, we can certainly figure out a way to manage our water better. We simply must do that to protect your drinking water and the water that fuels our state’s agricultural sector.  

Therefore, I have announced my candidacy for the office of Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries in 2010. I ask for your support – and I assure you I need your help.

This is a big, beautiful state and we’ve got to travel from one end to the other, then back again many times before Election Day. I hope you will let me hear from you and perhaps we may meet along the way.

Like any campaign, it must be run on donations from people like you. So, before you leave my web site please take a moment to check our address and send my campaign a contribution.

Thank you.

Glen Zorn