Today Dr. Barbara Campbell, Chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia’s African-American Caucus, released the following statement after it was revealed that Rick Jackson had pulled out of an upcoming Republican candidate forum focused on issues facing the Black community:
“It’s shameful that Rick Jackson couldn’t be bothered to leave his multimillion dollar mansion to come to a forum focused on issues facing Black Georgians. How can he expect to lead our state without giving us the time to let us know where he stands on critical issues? This should make it crystal clear to everyone that he’ll always ignore the needs of our community. That’s why we must remember the power of the people is always stronger than the people in power – we must always use our power.”
Event co-sponsor Shelley Wynter revealed on his show that Jackson had pulled out of the event, which is set for Sunday, March 29 at 3pm in South Fulton. Wynter strongly criticized Jackson’s decision, saying that “if you’re serious about running the state of Georgia, you need to be available to go into every single room available to you.” Wynter also suggested that Jackson’s decision might be attributed to Burt Jones’ blistering attacks on him at the Georgia Faith & Freedom Coalition event earlier in the week, the first time the two have been under the same roof since the start of this “slugfest” primary.
This comes as Jackson has dismissed the value of debates – telling a crowd in Watkinsville Thursday that “[debates] don’t actually change things” – to which Wynter responded on Friday, writing on Facebook that “based on Mr. Jackson’s quote, our votes don’t matter” and that “close to 400 people who will be in attendance on Sunday will definitely be told this at the start of the town hall.” Jones and Carr have also strongly criticized Jackson’s unwillingness to debate, adding to the messiness of this already chaotic campaign.
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