On Wednesday, Libertarian nominee for Governor, Dr. James “Jimmy” Blake, addressed voters online in a forum hosted by the Jefferson County Libertarian Party at the Mountain Brook Library.
Blake said he had recently attended the “Break the Chains” rally organized by the families of prisoners of the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC).
Blake said that he was moved “When you heard the stories and saw the videos that the families brought in there.”
“The people of Alabama are a very decent bunch of people, and I don’t know whether politicians think they will be seen as soft on crime or they think that people just don’t care,” Blake said, urging the state to care for its prisoners better.
According to a report by the Trump Department of Justice, the Alabama prison system is the most dangerous in the country. The state is facing a DOJ lawsuit alleging that incarceration with ADOC is an unconstitutional “cruel and unusual punishment,” banned by the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Blake chastised legislators and the Ivey administration for not focusing on the problem.
“I think we are focused on sending money to favored contractors,” Blake said, criticizing the state for “Spending $400 million that was supposed to go to the people for COVID relief” to build new mega prisons.
Blake said that he favored housing the prisoners in a more humane environment.
“They want people to be rehabilitated and not more dangerous than when they went in there,” Blake explained.
Even though Blake is running for governor, he still weighed in on the U.S. Senate race to chastise Republicans.
“They had a guy who was a small government conservative in Mo Brooks,” Blake said. “They said so many outrageous things about him that were untrue and then chose a BCA lobbyist (referring to Katie Britt). We have a guy who knows what the government is supposed to be doing in John Sophocleus.”
Blake said that the Libertarian Party was created 50 years ago when Republican President Richard Nixon devalued the currency by getting off of the gold standard.
“A 1964 dime is 95% silver,” Blake said. “It is worth over two dollars today. A 2022 Biden dime is worth ten cents, and in a year, it will be worth nine cents a year from now due to inflation.”
Blake chastised incumbent Gov. Kay Ivey for rejecting structural tax changes and what he called the corrupt duopoly of the two major political parties.
Blake argued against laws banning marijuana, saying that Prohibition only creates “black markets,” detailing how Prohibition in the 1920s increased crime and violence while also leading to harder alcohol and alcohol poisoning.
“You wouldn’t have fentanyl” if drugs were legal, Blake said. “Your liability would be too high.”
Blake is a former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon who flew nuclear strike F4 Phantom fighters in Europe during the Cold War. He graduated from Auburn University and went to medical school at UAB on an Air Force scholarship.
Blake served eight years on the Birmingham City Council. He also led the RAPS group that opposed the MAPS effort by then Birmingham Mayor Richard Arrington to build a domed stadium and other projects by raising taxes across Jefferson County.
Blake is a former chairman of the Libertarian Party of Alabama. He started the first free-standing “urgent care” healthcare clinic in Alabama – American Family Care. After leaving that business, Blake practiced medicine in the Hoover area. More recently, Blake has practiced emergency medicine at rural hospitals. Blake’s wife was killed in a tragic car accident.
This is the first time Libertarians have had ballot access in Alabama in twenty years.
Blake is challenging incumbent Gov. Ivey. Ivey has led the state since 2017. Yolanda Flowers is the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of Alabama. There are also two write-in candidates campaigning for governor.
The general election is on November 8. Voters must have a valid photo ID to participate in any Alabama election.
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