Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson was a CEO member of the Job Creators Network in 2015 and used its employee-outreach program at his company, Jackson Healthcare, liberal outlet MeidasTouch reported on Friday.
The outlet, citing JCN slide decks, says Jackson Healthcare took part in the group’s Employer to Employee Communications Program, meant to get workers to advocate on business issues. It says the sessions covered how the minimum wage, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Affordable Care Act affect jobs, and involved Jackson’s 75 corporate employees.
MeidasTouch says the program’s video described the “perils of Obamacare,” and that materials argued that a higher minimum wage and power-plant emission rules would hurt workers.
It also says JCN ran an employee website, “Information Station,” with articles opposing a higher minimum wage and favoring a lower corporate tax rate.
The report adds that JCN campaigned in 2015 against Obama-era NLRB guidance on large employers’ labor-law duties and highlighted the effort in its materials. According to MeidasTouch, JCN told companies its own surveys showed employees who saw the materials leaned more conservative, with over a quarter saying it affected their vote.
Jackson faces Democrat and former Mayor of Atlanta Keisha Lance Bottoms on Nov. 3. Polling has shown a close race, even as Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff has been running far ahead of his Republican opponent Mike Collins.