On the heels of a recent visit by President Donald Trump, Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson promised to cut Georgia’s income taxes by as much as 50% during his first term, overhaul property taxation and make the state the most cost-effective in the nation for health care during a campaign stop Wednesday in Chatsworth.
On health care, Jackson attached a condition to his promise:
"I will have the most cost effective state plan – meaning commercial insurance and the cost of health care – of anybody in the United States, and or I won't run again," Jackson, 80, promised.
The billionaire philanthropist spoke to a crowd The Times estimated at approximately 120 at Cloer Barn, following an arrival by helicopter that sent leaves and debris flying and damaged trees and a fence outside the building.
“Your property taxes will never go up based off the valuation increase of your property,” Jackson said, arguing that local governments should instead set budgets and answer to voters for any tax increases needed to pay for them.
Murray County Tax Commissioner Billy Childers said he discussed local tax relief with Jackson before the speech, including the county’s floating local option sales tax and the rollback of the county millage rate from 8 mills to 5.99 mills.
“I promise you tax relief is very much an interest to the citizens in Murray County,” Childers said he told Jackson.
The health care executive also called for a statewide system to make patient records accessible across providers, upfront prices for medical treatment and prescription drugs, and restrictions on insurers denying physician-requested care.
In education, Jackson called for higher teacher pay, stronger classroom discipline and improved literacy instruction, including retaining third-graders who cannot read proficiently. He cited Mississippi’s progress in reading proficiency as a model, going, he said, from having the lowest literacy rates in state schools to now being among the top 10%.
“This is Mississippi, guys. We can do better than Mississippi,” he said.
For rural Georgia, he proposed using state resources to expand agricultural processing, meatpacking and access to capital for farmers.
“I’m most excited about what we can do in rural Georgia,” he said, a reference both to Murray County and the whole of the state's agriculture industry.
Jackson said his most important job as governor is to keep Georgians safe, making one pointed, though unnamed, criticism of Democratic opponent Keisha Lance Bottoms while discussing law enforcement.
“When you take up for criminals over victims and law enforcement, it disqualifies you,” he said.
Much of the rest of his speech traced his childhood and the reasons he said he entered the race.
Jackson said his father left when he was 9-months-old and that his mother, a waitress with a sixth-grade education, struggled with alcoholism. He lived in Atlanta’s Techwood public housing and entered foster care at 12.
Church buses brought him to services where he observed families unlike his own.
“I saw Christians as rich, and I wanted to be a Christian,” he said.
A foster family’s dinner table left an even greater impression. The family joined hands and prayed before eating.
“When you live in a dysfunctional, violent family environment, you don’t know what normal is,” he said. “You’ve never seen normal.”
Jackson later bought a recruiting agency at 21 and built a health care business that, he said, generated $3 billion in revenue last year.
In 2007, Jackson said, he decided that his wealth was God’s, and only his to steward and committed to giving away earnings beyond what he needed to live. His philanthropic work has included establishing FaithBridge Foster Care.
“I did not think I could live out the rest of my life and have more kingdom impact than representing 11 million Georgians,” he said of his decision to run.
State Sen. Chuck Payne, who introduced Jackson, urged Republican turnout in the Nov. 3 election.
“He is what he presents himself to be,” Payne said. “He’s a man we can trust.”
The public event was organized through cooperation among the campaign, Republican leaders in the 14th Congressional District and the local party. Jackson spoke individually with attendees before the program and stayed afterward for photographs.
Gary Britt, who identified himself as Jackson’s campaign chairman in Catoosa County, praised the candidate’s remarks.
“Rick is exactly what the state of Georgia needs at this time,” Britt said.
Don Shields of Ringgold said he came to meet Jackson and offer encouragement.
“I just wanted to be close to a person of greatness and to congratulate him and also let him know that we’re praying for him,” Shields said.
Mary Ellen Cates, a retired attorney from Ellijay, spoke with Jackson about concerns over data centers and their possible impact on well water supplies. She said Jackson agreed to review information she brought from the University of Georgia.
“I have no objection to data centers, but I’d like to be able to take a bath,” she said.
Barn owner and Chatsworth City Councilman Jeff Cloer said the helicopter’s rotor wash broke limbs from his pecan trees and blew down part of his fence.
“It was like a tornado coming in,” Cloer said.
Asked how many trees Jackson would have to knock down before Cloer changed his mind about the candidate, he replied, “He can blow them all down.”