FIRST ON FOX: Rick Jackson, who is seeking the Republican nomination in the Georgia gubernatorial race, appeared to support Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies at Jackson Healthcare, according to unearthed audio of a former DEI executive at his company, but Jackson is now promising to put an end to the DEI push if he becomes the governor.
"We’ll ban DEI insanity and criminalize reverse discrimination," Jackson said in a campaign ad last month.
Jackson’s calls to end DEI appear to run counter to praise he received from Matthew Harrison, who formerly served in multiple executive-level roles leading DEI initiatives at Jackson Healthcare between early 2018 and Aug. 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile and University of Georgia bio for an adjunct assistant professor role.
"I think it really reinforced for our associates that certainly, from a leadership perspective, our leaders get and see the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in our workforce at Jackson Healthcare in I mean, and it really is emulated as a part of our values," Harrison, who has a PhD in workplace diversity and who did his thesis on "Colorism," said during a 2020 podcast interview.
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Harrison described that the company’s leadership had taken steps to disseminate DEI principles through a "Conversations" series the company allegedly held at Jackson's direction.
"We created what we call our ‘Conversations,’ a learning experience about race. That was something we launched in October of 2019, and that is something that really kind of started due to the history of our CEO and founder, Rick Jackson," Harrison said.
"I think Rick felt that it was important enough, and we had a culture in place where we could establish that safe space and create those ground rules on the front end to where he felt comfortable with us doing that," Harrison added.
Harrison further described the "Conversations" series in a 2022 interview.
"I think oftentimes we shy away a little bit at work, and we don't have these discussions, and really, the workplace is the exact place where we should … So we created a ‘conversation on race’ series where people were brought together with their colleagues to talk about race, to talk about prejudice, to talk about microaggressions," Harrison said.
Jackson's campaign pushed back on the characterization that the "Conversations" series meant that Jackson's company had implemented or supported DEI principles.
"The most pathetic attack yet from Burt Jones' failing campaign," Dave Abrams, a spokesperson from the Jackson campaign said, referring to Georgia's current Lt. Governor and one of Jackson's political opponents. "Jackson Healthcare had a black pastor speak to a voluntary group of employees. That doesn't change the fact that Jackson Healthcare has always only hired the best."
Jackson, 71, announced his dark-horse candidacy on Feb. 3, joining an already-crowded pool of Republican candidates. Not including Jackson, eight other Republicans have also announced their candidacy. He is the billionaire founder of Jackson Healthcare, a healthcare recruiter and staffing company that services facilities nationwide with over 1,500 employees, according to its website.
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Since entering the race, Jackson has made ending DEI a fixture of his campaign alongside other policy stances like freezing property taxes, slashing income tax and continuing the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
"I’ll ban DEI and focus on merit," Jackson said in an interview he highlighted on X, where he laid out his plans.
Despite the Jackson campaign's pushback, a Fox News Digital review found several Facebook posts where Jackson Healthcare touted Harrison's work at the company and his goal to implement DEI principles in the workplace.
"Senior Vice President of Talent & Development, Matthew Harrison, recently participated in a Tech Alpharetta panel about building diversity, equality and inclusion into business operations. Click the link below to download and watch. Skip to 21:41 to hear Matthew highlight some of Jackson Healthcare's key DE&I approaches," a 2021 Jackson Healthcare Facebook post said.
"Business RadioX talked with Matthew Harrison, our VP of Human Resources, and some of the leaders from our Associate Network Groups to hear about workplace diversity and how we're creating an environment that welcomes everyone," a 2019 Jackson Healthcare Facebook post said.
"Our president, Shane Jackson, joined academic and business leaders during this week’s 2022 Business School Diversity Conference, sharing insights on how to create cultures where people thrive," a 2022 Jackson Healthcare Facebook post said, referring to Jackson's son. "The conference, hosted by the University of Georgia Terry College of Business and sponsored by the Business School DEI Collaborative, covered a variety of topics aimed at helping professionals advance DEI programs within their organizations."
In his time at Jackson Healthcare, Harrison recalls leadership, under Jackson’s instruction, taking strides to affirm the necessity of DEI — especially in the wake of several racially-charged incidents like the death of George Floyd that brought about chaos in major cities across the country.
He recalled an instance where Jackson had personally attended and led conversation talks about DEI.
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"And I think more than anything, what it did illustrate with particularly, our president sitting through all six sessions and our CEO actually kicked off the session and came in the final session to again, talk about why he thought this was so important to our organization," Harrison said.
"And I think with them having the sessions, it really helped our associates even better understand what our president and CEO really mean by ‘others first,’ and that that is also inclusive of diversity and inclusion being something that's really important to our organization," he recalled.
Jackson’s campaign once again denied that DEI had ever been implemented as a policy at his company.
"Jackson Healthcare has never had DEI requirements," Abrams said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Harrison and Jackson Healthcare for comment.