Rick Jackson rolled out a video the other day for his campaign. Songs and jingles for campaigns are not unusual. Many candidates come up with something to plant the name of the candidate firmly in the listener’s mind.
This song did that and more. It told a powerful story of the struggles of a child. It told how that child overcame those overwhelming odds to make a life that impacts thousands of lives today.
The song walks you through the first time that Rick drove a car. He could barely see over the dashboard to drive his drunk and passed out mother home. He told of nights at home with literally an empty cupboard.
He was labeled and laughed at and bullied. He was told that he was white trash.
At five years old something led him to walk to a downtown church where he found refuge and a sense of peace. When the world knocked him down, he found the strength to get up and get up again and again and again to keep fighting against the labeling, name calling, bullying, and being told he would never amount to anything.
He tracked his job career from shoeshine boy, to a paper route, to vacuum cleaner salesman, to the Chief Executive of a multibillion dollar company today. He determined to learn life’s valuable lessons even in the lowliest jobs.
Through his experience, he honed the value of one-on-one relationships and a servant’s heart. Rather than accepting the label of a white trash loser, he looked to win and win big.
He was shaped along the way by loving foster parents and later in the United Methodist Children’s Home. “From the hard road to the high road,” he learned and applied what it took to win big.
He related in his song servanthood and putting America first. When Covid hit, he made Georgia the priority for finding medical personnel to fight the deadly disease. He could have easily increased his bottom line profits by turning his business toward New York – but he stuck with Georgia. (He was not running for and had no thought of running for Governor back then.)
China, had a monopoly on medicine production. When they tried to squeeze America, Rick Jackson bought an American medicine manufacturer and turned it around to keep some medicine production on American soil.
With all of his millions, he never forgot where he came from. He built a successful organization to help foster children when they aged out of foster care.
He sees this run for Governor of Georgia as a drive that calls for strength and clarity. He demonstrates both in his support for law enforcement, families, and the working man.
He is running to win and win big. I like the way he puts it when he says he doesn’t want to be governor. He wants to be a good governor.
Listen to the song here on YouTube. It will move you as much as any patriotic song you’ve ever heard.
If you want to meet Rick in person, he will be making a couple of stops in Southwest Georgia on Friday, March 6 in Blakely and Thomasville. Click on the invites below for more information.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has an opportunity to pass a measure that 85% of Americans support, the SAVE America Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility). Democrats in the Senate have declared the bill dead on arrival as they know that Republicans cannot get 60 votes to stop a filibuster.
But we need understand the filibuster and the Senate rules. It is not as simple as Democrats want to make it out to be.
Over the years the filibuster has morphed into a matter as simple as handing a note to the clerk of the Senate stating that there is a filibuster on a particular vote. When that happens, all action on the vote comes to a halt and the Senate pivots over to work on other matters.
That was not the original meaning of filibuster. The original practice has been so watered down that today there are two names for the filibuster. The “silent” filibuster is what we are familiar with today. One side just “says filibuster” and that’s it.
The other name is the “standing” or “talking” filibuster. In short, the standing or talking filibuster requires one side to keep talking until one of three things happen: (1) 60 Senators vote to end debate; (2) one side gives up; or (3) the two-times rule is invoked, and the minority runs out of speakers.
Congressman Chip Roy sent a “dear colleague” letter to the Senators explaining how they could pass the SAVE act with a simple majority. (A copy of the letter is at the end of this article.) It will not be easy, but it is possible if our Republican senators will discipline themselves and, as Nike says, “just do it.”
In short, Republicans would have to vote with a simple majority to table any amendment that Democrats bring up and keep tabling amendments. Democrats, on the other hand, would have to keep someone talking the full time. The Senate rules only allow a person to speak twice on any one bill or amendment.
Even if the Democrats stayed fully in lockstep to filibuster, they would eventually come to a point of having no one left to debate and Republicans could end debate and vote on the bill. Sound complicated? It is, but it would be worth it.
Congressman Roy closed his letter with a worst-case scenario. “Democrats filibuster to death an 85% issue like Voter ID and citizen voting in front of the entire country.”
Best case, the bill passes and we have real voter ID for national elections. Senate Republicans, this is a no-brainer. All you need is the discipline to make them filibuster.
If you live in Bibb, Crawford, Houston, Monroe, Peach, or Upson counties, then you may be in Senate District 18. There is a special election runoff that puts Steve McNeel, a Republican against a Democrat in a head-to-head contest.
I encourage you to go vote early. You may ask why. That’s a good question and I’ll give you two quick answers.
First, no one is promised tomorrow. You considere voting to be an important patriotic duty. You probably vote Republican. This ballot has a Republican and a Democrat. There is nothing that will come up between now and Tuesday, February 17 that is going to change your mind. So, there is no reason to put it off.
Second, the Republican party, GA Republican Senate Caucus, Steve McNeel’s campaign, and other conservative organizations are working hard to get out all votes. On election day, volunteers will be calling, texting, and reaching out to get voters to the polls. If you vote early, you won’t need a call, and these conservative organizations can focus their attention on those who have not already voted.
We can debate the issue of early and absentee voting. I personally think that there should be one day for voting in person and absentee voting be allowed only for a stated reason. While I hold that opinion, the fact remains that the playing field and rules we operate under allow early voting and no-excuse absentee.
Be assured, the competition is using the early and absentee vote. If we do not use it strategically, then we will lose. This is especially true when there are three weeks of early voting.
I ask you to do two things. Both are simple and cost nothing.
First, go vote early. Get your vote in and take someone with you to go vote.
Second, if you are on social media, then post a photo of you wearing your, “I voted” sticker. You influence others and when they see you, they are more likely to go vote. I’m proud to post two photos of Republican leaders in Senate District 18. Dave Sumrall is the former Republican Party Chairman of Bibb County and Wade Yoder is a Peach County Commissioner.
It is especially important in this election because we are in a special election cycle for one race in a runoff. Let’s face it, going to vote is not high on the news and conversation list right now. That is why, like Dave Sumrall and Wade Yoder, you need to lead by example and let others see you voting early.
So, now that you have read this, go vote. If you don’t get it done early, then by all means get to your polling place on February 17 and, if you live in the district, vote for Steven McNeel, Republican in Senate District 18.
Let me share with you what I learned from listening to him and checking him out with people who know him. The title of this article sums it up best – he is for real.
It is not only what he says, but how he says it. I watched his speech and listened to him carefully. I saw a firm, resolute, calm strength and character that developed over years of testing and trials that most of us will never experience.
Rick Jackson grew up in the projects and foster homes. His life was influenced by living with a Christian family and later in the United Methodist Children’s Home.
An article in TwoTen Magazine from ten years ago told his story. When this article was written a decade ago, he was not running for anything. He did not need anything. He just had a committment to help those who had no voice, children in foster care.
That article told how, at five years old, he walked to Sunday School at a church in downtown Atlanta. Living in a foster home, he experienced a family praying before a meal. It was so foreign to him that he could not process the love and faith of that family.
In his first speech, he said that his company’s main cultural value is “Others First.” I checked the Best Places to Work website and found that 90% of his nearly 2500 employees said that it is a great place to work compared to 57% at a typical US based company.
At one point in the speech when he spoke of his addressing a senate committee about foster care, you could see the powerful conviction welling up in him. It caused him to pause for a moment to catch his composure. That kind of reaction cannot be manufactured. He summed up his Others First values:
“The system forgets the people who don’t have money, power, privilege or fame, not those who need it. Right then, I committed to do everything I could to help those without a voice, without a lobbyist, without a checkbook to make their voice heard.”
He did not have to say that he felt a calling to run for Governor. It was evident in his whole being as he spoke. He laid out his vision to make Georgia the the most affordable state in the nation.
His commitment is to freeze property taxes and slash the income tax by 50% in four years. In eight years he strives to eliminate the income tax all together.
He wants to freeze tuition, room and board for state higher education. He wants to tackle the cost of home ownership.
He addresses the “woke nonsense and complete insanity. “ He says that if Christianity cannot be taught then neither will this ideology find a place in Georgia’s public schools.
There won’t be any boys playing in girls sports or in the girls bathrooms and locker rooms. “There are two genders and they are God-given.” He went farther to say that anyone pushing this ideology will not be just stopped but will be held accountable.
He says that there will not be a stronger supporter of the 2nd amendment. From his own personal experience growing up, he is a passionate supporter of law enforcement. I like the way he said that he will make Georgia the worst place in the nation for criminals.
I went beyond what I could find in research and checked with some of those who know him. One commented, “I know of his genuine faith.”
Rick Jackson is for real. I will be proud to give him my vote and have him as my governor. Check him out and I believe you will too.
Last Week the FBI executed a search warrant at the Fulton County Election Office. About 700 boxes of ballots were seized along with voter rolls, voting machine tapes, absentee ballot envelopes, and other documents and evidence from the 2020 Presidential election.
I wondered just what kind of evidence of what kind of crime the FBI had in mind when they searched the facilities. I thought a Goggle search would easily show the search warrant but I was wrong.
The search warrant was mentioned in many news reports but I could not find a copy of the search warrant itself. Finally I found a copy of the search warrant on Facebook posted by Mark Davis on January 29. I have attached a copy of the warrant at the end of this article.
Apparently the affidavit and the warrant were sealed. Fulton County filed action in federal court to order the return of the items and had to enter the search warrant itself as evidence which effectively unsealed the warrant. The affidavit which gave justification for the search to the judge signing the warrant is still under seal.
Attachment B lists the items for which the FBI was searching. It includes:
* All physical ballots from the 2020 General Election in Fulton County; including, but not limited to: absentee ballots to include envelopes; advanced voting ballots, provisional ballots; in-person election day ballots; emergency ballots; damaged or destroyed ballots; duplicated ballots; or any other ballot that was used to cast a vote;
* All tabulator tapes for every voting machine used in Fulton County; including but not limited to; zero tapes, opening tapes, closing tapes and any other tabulator tape printed from a voting machine utilized during the 2020 General Election in Fulton County;
* All ballot images produced during the original ballot count beginning on November 3, 2020, the recount, and any other ballot images that were created from ballot scanning from the 2020 General Election in Fulton County;
* All voter rolls from the 2020 General Election in Fulton County from absentee, early voting, in person, and any other voter roll that indicates voters: to whom an absentee ballot was issued, from whom an absentee ballot was received, or who participated in advance voting or election day voting.
This is an extensive list. I can understand the reports of 700 boxes carted out to the awaiting vehicles.
Democrats exploded with rage over the search warrant. Secretary of State Raffensperger continues with his mantra that Georgia has the most secure elections in the country and that there were three recounts that proved Joe Biden won.
My issue with the recounts is that all they were doing was counting the same ballots over and over. The count wasn’t the problem.
My question points more toward the reconciliation of votes cast to the absentee ballot envelopes and voter sign-in sheets. In other words, were the ballot boxes “stuffed” with fraudulent ballots. In a mere recount, a fraudulent ballot would be counted the same as a valid ballot.
I remember that Suzi Voyles, one of the recount observers, raised an issue over seeing multiple ballots in unfolded, pristine condition, with the ballot marking appearing to be the same image on every ballot. The process should have been halted then and there to have a closer examination of the ballots to determine if they were original ballots or not. That did not happen so now those questioned ballots are somewhere in one of those 700 boxes of ballots.
The issue of Fulton County handling of the 2020 election was put under the spotlight last December when the Georgia Elections Board finally considered a complaint that was originally filed with the Secretary of State in 2022. One can only imagine why Secretary Raffensperger’s office took nearly three years to bring the complaint before the State Elections Board.
In this case, Fulton County admitted to certifying 315,000 early vote ballots without signatures on the machine tapes. The response from Raffensperger’s office was the same claim that Georgia has the most secure elections in the country. He brushed off the unsigned tapes as a clerical error.
Irregularities such as the ones reported shout for a thorough, trusted, impartial review. Based on the items secured, the FBI search will be looking at all aspects of the 2020 ballot handling to include the proper documentation of ballot handling. They rightly should make a thorough accounting and reconciliation.
I look forward to learning the results of the search. Hopefully it won’t be another five years.
“Your job is not to convince people to vote for Joe Joe Wright and George Singletary. Your job is to identify people who will vote for Joe Joe and George and convince them to go vote.”
Those were the marching orders for more than 20 volunteers who signed up to help Joe Joe Wright and George Singletary win an election against overwhelming odds.
The Playing Field – Cordele Demographics
Cordele is the Watermelon capital of the world and the Gateway to South Georgia. The demographics for the city are 72% black, 23% white, with a small percentage of hispanics and other ethnic groups.
The City Commission consists of one Commissioner elected at large and four Commissioners elected from four wards. One ward is majority white. The other three are majority black. Prior to this election, four of the commissioners were black and one was white.
Eight years ago, the city elected the first black Chairman of the City Commission which was the at-large post. The vote was not strictly along racial lines as a significant number of white voters chose the black candidate over the white candidate.
While racial issues did arise on occassion, for the most part, the key issues were ones that impacted the general population across all races. That changed in 2021 when another black candidate took on the incumbent black chairman and made race a key component of his campaign. The challenger was elected in a runoff.
The next four years, the chairman made practically every issue a racial issue. Meanwhile the general welfare of the city slowly deteriorated. Mandated audits and financial reports were late. Tax bills were behind which severely impacted financial operations. The city was hit with multiple racial discrimination lawsuits for which the city was in an indefensible position.
Joe Joe Wright, who happens to be white, announced that he would challenge the incumbent. Joe Joe works for the Crisp County Recreation Department and had invested his life into the lives of all young people in the city. George Singletary announced that he would challenge the incumbent commissioner in Ward 3.
With a 72/23 black advantage and with the perception that blacks would only vote for blacks, the odds were not in favor of the two challengers.
The Strategy – Target Voters and Flood Early Voting
This is where the marching orders come into play. When it comes to elections, people will often express their support, offer encouraging words, put a sign in the yard, and even write glowing comments on social media. Believe it or not, some do all these things, yet never actually cast a vote. Without the vote, none of these other signs of support matter.
Fortunately there is a way to encourage voting and track to see when the vote was cast. It takes place during the early voting period In Georgia that’s a whopping 3 weeks.
Most people do not realize that the Secretary of State maintains a web page that reports on each day’s activity in the early voting phase. it records requests for absentee ballots, the return of absentee ballots, and early voting activity for each voter. Anyone can log on to the page and find the date that the individual votes as well as the style of vote, absentee or in person.
While I am not able to tell how an individual voted, I can tell that an individual voted. This readily available information, coupled with three weeks of early voting, can provide a strategic advantage to one who organizes and plans to get as many early voters as possible. This is exactly what the team supporting Joe Joe Wright and George Singletary did and it proved to be the winning edge.
Days before early voting began, we started with the volunteers who said that they would call their friends and neighbors to encourage them to go vote. We then took the voters list and asked the volunteers to identify specific voters for whom they would be responsible to encourage them to go vote early.
Those voters were labeled as “Target” voters. This gave us a specific targeted voter with a specific “tracker” who would track the actions of that voter from initial contact through casting a ballot or turning in the absentee ballot.
Once the target voter cast his or her ballot, the target voter was moved to a status of “voted” and no longer tracked. This vote was considered highly likely to be for our candidates. We spent no more energy trying to get this voter to vote because we knew that the vote was “in the bank.”
The process of targeting, assigning a traker, and monitoring voter activity allowed us to work smarter, not harder, in encouraging voters to go vote. The added advantage was that on election day, we had fewer people to track because we knew who had already voted. In some cases those who voted became “trackers” themselves and helped expand the net of potential voters.
The Victory – Amassing Early Voting Advantage that Could not be Overcome on Election day
When election day rolled around, we did all the normal election day activity of offering rides to the polls, standing near the polling place, waving signs and making phone calls to get people to the polls. The key difference was that we began with a huge lead because of the votes for our candidates that had been cast days earlier.
Our game clock did not begin at 7:00 am on election day. It began at 8:00 am days earlier when early voting opened. We had a head start, in this case just a 3 day early voting period, but we took full advantage of these three days.
Before early voting opened, we began to call the targeted voters to confirm that they were strong supporters of Joe Joe Write and George Singletarty. We asked them to go vote on the first day of early voting Many readily agreed. During the three days of early voting, we flooded the elections office with voters who would cast their votes for Joe Joe Wright and George Singletary.
On election day, the voters for the incumbents showed up in strong numbers. As strong as they were, their numbers fell short of the overall total needed.
Joe Joe Wright and George Singletary would have been handily defeated had they waited until election day to get the vote out. The key to their victory went right back to the marching orders given at the first campaign organiational meeting.
“Your job is not to convince people to vote for Joe Joe Wright and George Singletary. Your job is to identify people who will vote for Joe Joe and George and convince them to go vote.”
One important factor cannot be overlooked. There was a small but significant number of black voters who refused to vote merely along racial lines. These voters cared about the city and knew that the divisiveness was destructive.
These voters created a coalition that looked beyond race and looked at fellow Cordelians as wanting the same quality of life they wanted. While this percentage was small, it was significant.
The race would not have been won had it not been for the core group with the core values that they had. They just needed the encouragement to go vote at their first opportunity and fulfil their civic duty.
Their job was not to convince people to vote for Joe Joe Wright and George Singletary. Their job was to convince people to who supported these two candidates to just go vote.
Will the big cities decide on your power bill? They will if the folks in the unincorporated areas of Georgia don’t go vote.
The Public Service Commission regulates your power bills. Georgia has some of the lowest rates in the nation because we have conservatives on the Public Service Commission.
For the most part the odd year elections are for city governments and people living in unincorporated areas do not think about voting. This year if you live in the unincorporated area, you need to think about it.
Due to a lawsuit, the Public Service Commission races got thrown into an odd year. They are normally in the same year as Governor and other Constitutional offices.
This is an important election for everyone, not just the city governments. You may think that since it is not for Governor or President it is not worth your time to go vote. Think differently about this.
You need to do more than think about it. You need to go vote for Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson. They have done a great job on the Commission and we need to keep them there.
Don’t let the big cities decide on your power bill. Go vote.
Read this carefully because it is very important. Go Vote – Yes you can vote even if you do not live in a city. Keep reading, I promise you it is short and important.
If you let this slide by, then you will have two key positions decided by city voters, mostly Democrat.
Odd year elections are generally limited to municipal and special elections. This year, the Public Service Commission is a statewide election and it will be on every ballot.
If you do not live within the city limits, you cannot vote in a municipal election. Because of this, you probably do not think about the need to vote in the odd numbered years.
As a result we will have the city voters showing up to elect Mayors and City Council members. County voters can easily (and tragically) ignore this election, thinking that they cannot vote.
Yes, there is an election that needs your vote. Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson are two Republicans on the ballot. Go Vote for Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson.
Early voting starts on Tuesday, October 14. Don’t let this election slip by. Yes, there is a Georgia election and we need your vote.
Please forward this to your Georgia friends and ask them to vote for Public Service Commission.
On Monday, August 11, State Senator Blake Tillery from Vidalia, GA will announce his candidacy for Lt. Governor. He has asked me to serve as his Crisp County Chairman and it is my honor to serve him.
I first heard Blake when he was on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee looking into the many questions and allegations of fraud in the 2020 election. He showed that he had an open mind and listening ear as well as a piercing investigative inquiry. He treated all witnesses with great respect.
Later I heard him in an address where he spoke about a bill he had introduced. He referred to a term I had never heard before – “debanking.” It refers to banks refusing to do business with someone because of non-financial reasons such as political or religious views.
That term should be familiar to you from the last few days where President Trump issued an executive order to outlaw debanking. It struck me that Blake used the same terms and reasonings that President Trump’s Executive Order used.
Blake introduced a bill in the last session of the legislature to allow individuals to sue banks for wrongful discrimination. The big banking lobby got Blake’s bill killed in the last session of the legislature.
Only Lt. Governor Burt Jones and 12 Senators supported his bill. I have a feeling that the bill, although killed, will be resurrected in the next session of the legislature.
Lt. Governor Jones appointed Blake to chair the Senate Committee on Eliminating Georgia’s Income Tax. Blake is a steadfast advocate of eliminating, not just trimming back, but eliminating Georgia’s income tax. His ambitious goal is to eliminate the income tax in five years.
The more I looked at Blake, the more I liked him. He stands strong and does not hold his finger in the air to see which way the political winds are blowing.
Most politicians are like a weed in the wind. Blake Tillery is like a strong, solid, oak. He is the kind of elected official that I want to have. I am proud to recommend him for Lt. Governor and to be asked to serve as his county chairman for Crisp County.
On Monday, August 11, 2025, Blake will be flying around the state with six stops. If you are near enough to get to any of these stops, come in and meet him. I am convinced that you will come away with the same positive support for Blake Tillery as our next Lt. Governor.
August 11, 2025 Savannah 8:00 AM – 8:45 AM Sheltair Aviation, 100 Eddie Jungemann Dr., Savannah, GA 31408
August 11, 2025 Augusta 9:30 AM – 10:15 AM Daniel Field, 1775 Highland Ave, Augusta, GA 30904
August 11, 2025 Perry 10:55 AM – 11:40 AM Perry–Houston County Airport, 375 Myrtle Field, Perry, GA 31069
August 11, 2025 Albany 12:15 PM – 1:00 PM Albany Jet Center, 3905 Newton Rd, Albany, GA 31701
August 11, 2025 Columbus 1:30 PM – 2:15 PM Flightways, 3250 West Britt David Rd, Columbus, GA 31909
August 11, 2025 Atlanta 3:15 PM – 4:00 PM Georgia State Capitol, South Steps (Interior), 206 Washington St SW, Atlanta, GA 30334
August 11, 2025 Vidalia Time: 5:30 PM – 6:15 PM Vidalia Airport, 2921 Airport Rd, Vidalia, GA 30474
I am voting for Donald Trump, but I want to see Nikki Haley stay in the primary race for a little while longer. Her candidacy provides valuable data for Republicans in general and Donald Trump in particular.
In 2020 thousands of suburban voters left Donald Trump blank but voted Republican down the line. One may complain about the race being stolen, but had these voters cast a vote for Donald Trump, any effort to sabotage Trump would not have overcome a vast turnout with these Republican non-Trump voters in Trump’s column.
So now it is 2024. Nikki Haley reaches those who skipped over Donald Trump in 2020. With her in the race, Republicans and the Trump campaign can identify them now, in the primary, months before the general campaign. More importantly something can be done to reach some of those this time around.
Nikki Haley voters in the Presidential Primary form an interesting profile. Some are solid Republicans who will vote for the eventual nominee.
Some are Democrats who are crossing over to cast a vote against Trump. They will vote for the Democrat nominee in November and will never vote for Trump or any other Republican (not even Nikki) in November.
Some see themselves as Republican leaning voters but consider themselves independent. These are the ones who voted Republican down ballot but left the Presidential race blank. At this point, they will be inclined to do the same or vote for a 3rd party candidate.
It is the last group that Republicans and Donald Trump need in November. Now the Republican party is faced with an opportunity to identify these voters this spring.
While the vast majority of campaign investments will be toward the general voter, The Republican party and the Trump campaign will do well to form a Special Operations Strategy aimed specifically at the Nikki Haley voter.
President Trump himself should be involved in this strategy. While Trump will be Trump, he could identify those counties, precincts, and voters who support Nikki Haley and listen to determine what message will peel off those independent voters.
Campaign materials targeting those voters can be used to persuade them that Trump is the candidate whose policies match their politics. After four years of Biden that will be an easier sell than it was in 2020.
So, Nikki, stay in the race a little longer. Then, after New Hampshire and South Carolina, suspend your campaign and ask your supporters to get behind Donald Trump.
Be a part of a Republican Special Operations Team to identify those voters who voted for you but will need to be reached to vote for Trump. Don’t do it just for Donald Trump, do it for America.
by 
