Libertarian nominee for Governor of Alabama Dr. James “Jimmy” Blake addressed the Libertarians of Greater Birmingham at a dinner event at Jim’ N Nick’s barbecue restaurant in the greater Homewood area on Tuesday night.
“I am a former chairman of the (Libertarian) Party,” Blake said. “I have been involved with the Libertarians really since the 1970s. I was chairman of the Libertarian Party when I was elected to the city council. I am very proud of some of the things we accomplished back then.”
Blake is a career doctor, an Air Force veteran, and a former Birmingham City Councilman.
“Our party has not been on the ballot since 2002,” Blake said. “Then John Sophocleus got more votes than the Republican margin of victory over Don Siegelman, and the Republicans and Democrats agreed that they did not want competition.”
Sophocleus finished third in the 2002 gubernatorial election behind then-Congressman Bob Riley and then Governor Siegelman. Sophocleus is the 2022 Libertarian nominee for U.S. Senate.
“We have, I think, 65 candidates on the November ballot, and 50 of them are only running against a Democrat or a Republican,” Blake said. “Without them, the voters would not have any choice in those races.”
Blake attacked both of the major political parties.
“I call them the blue ticks and the red ticks because they are both sucking us dry,” Blake said of the Democrats and the Republicans. “One thing that they agree on is that they don’t want competition.”
Alabama law requires a political party that did not have a candidate get 20 percent of the vote in the latest gubernatorial general election ballot to get signatures from registered Alabama voters to gain ballot access.
“It cost us a quarter of a million dollars to get ballot access,” Blake explained. “Ballot access petitions – it sounds fine but go out there and get ten of them, and it’s harder than it sounds. We had to have 85,000. We need 20% of the vote in one of these statewide races to keep ballot access.”
“Getting name ID is probably the biggest challenge that we face,” Blake said. “There may be 50,000 people in the state that even know that I am running. We need somewhere between 300,000 and 350,000 votes to get ballot access.”
Blake said that inflation is another way that government takes money away from the people.
“I have a 1962 dime that I keep in my pocket,” Blake stated. “A pre-1964 dime is 90% silver. It is worth two dollars and ninety cents today, while a Biden dime is worth ten cents. Since 1964 our money has lost over 95% of its value.”
Blake argued that both political parties are responsible for the current situation.
“Both of them are spending more money than we can justify,” Blake said.
Blake said that he and other Libertarian candidates are circulating a petition for the Alabama Legislature to pass the Firearms Protection Act, which would prohibit state or local officials from participating in any federal gun seizure efforts.
“The blue ticks are trying to take away our firearms away, and there is a reason for that. You can’t impose tyranny with an armed population,” Blake stated.
Blake said that the Libertarians are getting pushback from the Republicans, which control the state.
“The Republicans now are threatened by us,” Blake said. “They are threatening their own people that they can’t run as a Republican for six years if they support one of us. Now they are trying to close their primaries even though they are supported by the taxpayers. If they are funded by tax dollars, I ought to be able to vote in all the primaries. It did not cost one tax dollar to get our 65 candidates on the ballot.”
Blake said that he supports substantive tax reform and not tax rebates.
“My first priority is to get rid of the Alabama income tax,” Blake said. “Our income tax makes us noncompetitive with other states. Florida does not have one. Neither does Tennessee, and Mississippi is phasing theirs out. Georgia passed over $2 billion in tax cuts, while we increased the gas tax and some piddling tax cuts.”
Blake urged people to volunteer for his campaign.
“We need bodies. We need manpower at every level,” Blake said. “We could sure use some help. We have gotten great support from some of our technical people. I used to know how to run a campaign, but it is all different now.”
Blake is running against incumbent Republican Governor Kay Ivey and Democratic nominee Yolanda Rochelle Flowers in the November 8 general election.
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