Published: August 25, 2008 03:59 pm      

Blake Cummings runs for U.S. Representative Dist. 4 seat

Ada — Oklahoma native Blake Cummings is well on his way in the running for Oklahoma’s U.S. House District 4 seat. The Pauls Valley resident and self-described “Democrat Oil Man,” faces stiff competition for control of the 16-county district from Republican incumbent Tom Cole. Cole, whose political career began in 1988, first won the District 4 seat in 2002, and easily won bids for re-election in 2004 and 2006.

As someone with no prior political experience, Cummings seems to have his work cut out for him. But he’s not too worried about it.

“Congress has a single-digit approval rating,” said Cummings. “So not having any congressional experience is not a negative.”

Cummings said that prior working experience with government relations agencies and political officials has helped to provide him with the necessary insight for a political undertaking. “For the most part they’re just everyday people who focus on doing a job or public service,” said Cummings, speaking in regard to his previous working relationships with government entities. “Now some are lawyers or professional people, and some have never had a job outside of government. With those people, I wonder if they have a true perspective.”

While Cole may be a more well-known face for many within Oklahoma, Cummings said that his campaign is fighting back by using a more grass-roots approach. “What I’m trying to do is let people know that I’m one of them,” he said. “Every dime I’ve made has been through working for somebody else, private industry. And most people are in the same position. But I get out, I meet them. We talk about the problems we have. And we feel, ‘we’ being the people in this district that I’ve talked to, that while it’s all fine and well to have somebody that’s well-known representing your interests, if you don’t feel like things are any better now then they were, then your interests aren’t being represented properly.

“And I know Mr. Cole has a lot of responsibilities with the NRCC, with helping Republican incumbents getting re-elected,” he went on. “That doesn’t help the guy in Ada, or the farmer in Paul’s Valley.”

Cumming’s own positions on the issues aren’t those of a cookie-cutter Democrat. In solving America’s energy crisis, Cummings is a proponent of both increased domestic oil production and the pursuit of alternative energy sources. “Now, I know that (Congress) considers (the energy crisis) a partisan issue; I don’t consider it that way,” he said. “When you reach a crisis level like we’ve reached with energy, I think it quits becoming a Republican-Democrat issue and becomes and American issue. I agree that we do have to increase our domestic oil production.

“I know some members of our party, at least on the more left side of our party, are trying to keep us from going into Alaska and don’t want us to drill along the outer continental shelf. I don’t necessarily agree with that. I agree with it in principle, but when you’ve reached a crisis-mode, you have to have all options on the table ... Our goal is to eventually become energy-independent, where the United States can create all the energy that it will ever need. We’re not going to get there with just oil and gas; we’ve got to look at alternative energy methods. Oil and gas should go from being our primary source of energy, to our source of energy for now with a transition to something else in the future.”

Cummings also said that the decision to drill in restricted areas must be a conditional one. “...Every recoverable barrel of oil we get by going into these restricted areas should be a replacement for a barrel of oil in the Middle East,” he said. “If we come in and Exxon says, ‘You open this up for us and in ten years we can get 10 million barrels of oil per day in this restricted outer continental shelf,’ then I would want to see a plan where 10 million barrels of oil a day would be reduced from the Middle East. If we can eventually replace foreign oil with oil here in the Gulf and the outer continental shelf and in Alaska, then I would consider that a plus, and I don’t care what party you’re in. (America would be) dictated to less by Middle Eastern influences, and it’d be all American at that point.”

Health care reform is another hot-button issue with Cummings. He said that while the economy may not be ready for a full-blown single-payer universal health care system, he would introduce legislation that would help to pave the way. “My personal goal would be to see a single-payer type health care program for people, from birth to the age of 18,” he said. “The idea being that even families with insurance, the deductible or their share of the costs may be high enough that a medical procedure that their child might need to actually give them health for life, with respect to a particular issue, they might not do it because they just don’t have the dollars for the deductible.

“Any medical treatment that any child under the age of 18 needs should not be determined by whether or not you have the dollars in your pocket to pay for it. If we have healthy children, they’ll become healthy adults. Healthy adults are not a burden on our health care system.”

Cummings also said that Medicare needs to be “shored up.” Medicare supplements shouldn’t be needed, he said. “When you reach retirement age or when you become disabled, we should have a program in place that’s a single payer, so that there is no supplement needed.” Health insurance would still be used to cover working adults, he said, and insurance companies should also be required to provide more adequate coverage to those in need.

Cummings said a bipartisan candidate forum is scheduled to take place September 20 in Pauls Valley. Question will be given to candidates prior to the event, and then they’ll be given an opportunity to answer them before a crowd. Cummings said that he hoped Cole would be in attendance, and that they would have a chance to both address the same crowd.

“I would love for us to have a debate,” said Cummings. “That’s the best thing for the people; they get to see where I’m coming from, where he’s coming from. And they’re able to make the clear choices.”

More of Cumming’s views, including those on the economy, Native American tribes, Executive violations of the American Constitution, conflicts in the Middle East and more can be found in the complete transcript of his AEN interview at www.adaeveningnews.com under the newly-formed “Political Section.”