Rep Shea Roberts

Mom, Georgia State Representative for House District 52, Attorney and Founding Member of Giacoma Roberts & Daughdrill, LLC, and licensed Realtor.

[Greg Bluestein @bluestein]

As Republicans target Bottoms’ record as Atlanta’s leader, Mayor Dickens pushes back
“I watched her do the hardest version of this job in one of the hardest years in the history of the United States. She cared and she led.” #gapol
https://t.co/6l8ZHBhelh

[Georgia Senate Democrats @GASenateDems]

🚨Burt Jones: “It does really kind of disgust me that you have one private company that's used taxpayer dollars to basically triple the costs of healthcare in this state … I don't mind calling out Jackson Healthcare for being the culprit of our healthcare costs … ”

Rick Jackson’s so wrong, even Burt Jones gets it right.

[PoliticsGirl @IAmPoliticsGirl]

They’re coming after our votes. Here’s something you can do! 
https://t.co/78suU1yGs6

[Team Ossoff @TeamOssoff]

Ossoff: I don't think anything illustrates the times more aptly than that the draft-dodging crook president, who has plunged our nation recklessly into a war he knows not how to end or to win, tried to imprison this man, who embodies American heroism — a decorated combat veteran, naval aviator, astronaut, space shuttle commander, U.S. Senator. Donald Trump tried to lock him up for daring to state in public a fundamental principle of military law.

[Dr. Michelle Au @AuforGA]

I’m actually surprised this hasn’t gotten more pick up, but we need to discuss this.

A lawsuit filed by foreign-born nurses accused Avant Healthcare Professional—a company in multimillionaire Rick Jackson’s medical staffing empire—of luring them to the United States with the promise of employment and The American Dream, only to pay them substandard wages and trap them in rigid contracts for years.

Avant ultimately paid out a $3 million setttlement, days after Rick Jackson won the runoff and became the Republican nominee for governor.

The lawsuit accuses Avant of predatory employment practices, and when these foreign-born healthcare workers tried to quit the staffing company allegedly threatened to contact ICE and sought to charge the nurses five-figure fees for leaving.

These types of coercive employment agreements preying on the immigrant workforce are not unheard of in the medical staffing industry. Some labor attorneys have characterized contracts like the ones allegedly used by Avant as “stay-or-pay” agreements that take advantage of the most susceptible workers.

The immigrants who work for these healthcare staffing companies on such contracts are almost exclusively from developing countries, and the salaries generally offered to foreign nurses may look attractive on paper for those with little experience with the cost of living in the US or familiarity with typical nursing salaries. This creates an environment with workers ripe for exploitation.

Further, filling nurse openings with foreign labor recruited by healthcare staffing companies is attractive for hospitals precisely BECAUSE those workers are typically paid less. What that means, however, is that American-born and educated nurses are increasingly competing against cheaper labor and losing.

The bottom line? Rick Jackson, the CEO whose healthcare staffing empire has made billions
farming out healthcare providers, runs companies profiting off the work of an underpaid, vulnerable immigrant medical workforce.

And now he dares to run for governor as an immigration hardliner.

Many of us who actually directly care for patients are repelled by the idea of a health staffing CEO like Rick Jackson being elected as our next governor.

This story is one of many, many reasons why.

https://t.co/6PnNdOX0J0

[Democratic Coalition @TheDemCoalition]

Jon Ossoff is on fire lately 👇

“It was all a lie. They made you pay more for everything and took us to war on lies and spent most of last year trying to cover up for the world’s most famous pedophile while the crook president and his crooked family raked in billions."

#TrumpCrimeFamily

[Seth Taylor @SethTaylor1991]

My neighbor Kelli and I knocked 56 doors in Sandy Springs today as part of the Democratic Party of Georgia’s coordinated campaign, supporting Jon Ossoff, Keisha Lance Bottoms, Kevin Abel, and Democrats up and down the ballot! ☀️🥵

Georgia August heat is no joke, but neither is the work of organizing neighbor by neighbor and door by door. 💙

#gapol #SandySprings @ossoff @TeamOssoff @KeishaForGA @AbelForChange @GeorgiaDemocrat @fultondems

[Jay Bookman @jaysbookman]

You know who says this? Someone with health insurance.

[Dr. Michelle Au @AuforGA]

You’re a billionaire who’s made his fortune profiting off of a broken healthcare system.

You float struggling hospitals tens of millions in high interest loans while still billing them at a premium for staff.

No shit you don’t think the consequences are as bad as anyone else.

[Stacey Abrams @staceyabrams]

For more than a decade, Georgia has left billions of dollars on the table that could have kept hospitals open and helped our neighbors get the care they need.

Nine rural hospitals have closed. Rick Jackson says the consequences aren’t “as bad as anybody else thinks.”

It is easy to dismiss the consequences when you will never have to bear them. Georgians deserve a governor who knows the difference.

[Georgia Democrats @GeorgiaDemocrat]

🚨New bombshell reporting from @11AliveNews reveals @RickJacksonGA just extended a multimillion dollar state contract into 2027—despite telling Georgians LAST WEEK he’d unwind these contracts if elected governor.

More of the same from Slick Rick Jackson. https://t.co/zD81xco5sp

[Dr. Michelle Au @AuforGA]

This piece gives important insight into how Rick Jackson views healthcare, and the decisions he'd make as governor.

He sells himself as a healthcare expert. He is, in fact, an expert in PROFITING off of the healthcare patients so desperately need.

Let's discuss:

https://t.co/Tnp9cs7BoF

1️⃣ A struggling non-profit hospital in our neighbor state faces compounding financial pressure due to the high burden of uncompensated care in a Medicaid non-expansion state.

This is very similar to what we've seen in Georgia, which has itself seen many hospital closures under these same fiscal pressures.

2️⃣ Rick Jackson, who rejects full ACA Medicaid expansion and who is the executive of a for-profit healthcare system, decides to issue a high interest private loan to keep the hospital afloat for the time being. The interest on the loan increases even further--from 14 to 19%--if a payment is missed.

Furthermore, the hospital's future is still tenuous because its environment, and its payor mix (a high uninsured population), has not changed.

3️⃣ Rick Jackson says non-profit hospitals should be run with a "for-profit mentality." What does this mean?

Non-profit entities do, of course, need to be concerned with turning a profit. The difference between non-profit and for-profit is how those profits are treated.

NON-PROFITS take the money they generate and invest it back into their mission (e.g. expanding services, improving patient care, updating facilities).

But the priority of a FOR-PROFIT business is taking those profits and disbursing them to its private owners and shareholders.

Jackson's approach in his business is to maximize profits, not maximize safe, affordable, high quality care.

4️⃣ Full Medicaid expansion under the ACA would allow billions on federal tax dollars that Georgians have already paid to flow back into the state. This is particularly significant given other cuts in federal funding, and a drop in state revenue that has led to hundreds of millions of dollars in line item vetos to the state budget we passed last session.

It should be in the interest of a governor to prioritize care and access of its residents, to be good stewards of our state coffers (which would be less strained if federal ACA money were allowed to return to Georgia), and would create upwards of 50,000 new jobs in the state.

That Rick Jackson prefers a "for-profit mentality" over these benefits shows where his priorities lie.

5️⃣ Can a Georgia governor expand Medicaid on their own? No. Full ACA Medicaid expansion requires passage through the legislature.

But a governor has incredible power over the healthcare landscape, including setting and signing the budget, appointment of high level administrators to run our state health systems, and of course, the power of the veto.

In an increasingly closely divided legislature, this power becomes all the more potent, particularly for an issue like Medicaid expansion which, by my count over the years, likely already has the votes to pass out of both chambers. So while the governor can't pass Medicaid expansion on their own, their prioritization of the issue is absolutely critical.

What this tells me is this. We absolutely need to elect @KeishaForGA to be our next governor. I can say without hyperbole that the health and future of our state depends on it.

[Stacey Evans @EvansforGeorgia]

Welcoming a new child should be a time for recovery, bonding and care. No mother should have to choose between healing after childbirth and keeping her family financially secure.

That’s why I was so proud to see HB 1118 signed into law. This act provides maternal birth leave for eligible state workers. It’s an important step toward making sure Georgia protects the people who keep our state running and supports families when they need it the most. 

https://t.co/2qokUj2SOB

[Dr. Michelle Au @AuforGA]

Nearly two years ago, a 14 year old gained access to an unsecured gun in his home and used it to carry out the deadliest school shooting in Georgia’s history.

A year prior to the shooting, police actually questioned the future shooter and his father at their home and asked whether the then-13 year old had unsupervised access to guns.

He did. But he and his father lied.

The shooter was armed with a gun, but we did not arm our police with a legal framework to intervene before predictable tragedy struck at the heart of a community they were trying to protect.

That the Georgia House refused to advance The Pediatric Health Safe Storage Act in 2023, when it was first heard in committee, was not just a missed opportunity for education and intervention. It continues to be a glaring act negligence on the part of the legislature.

Today, the shooter’s father was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

But conviction after the fact does not abdicate us all of the blame that we didn’t try—and in fact, still refuse to try—to prevent children from accessing lethal weapons in the first place.

[Stacey Evans @EvansforGeorgia]

The decisions happening at the Capitol affect our schools, communities and economy. But it can be tough to keep track of everything that matters through all the noise. 

My newsletter provides straightforward updates on all the legislation, issues and news that matter most. If you want to stay in the loop and read up on past sessions, head over to my website today.

https://t.co/oonHN8gmR2

[Georgia Democrats @GeorgiaDemocrat]

Today, we remember beloved Congressman John Lewis not just for the life he lived, but for the movement he helped build.

"Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble." Let's honor his memory by doing exactly that.

[Jon Ossoff @ossoff]

Tonight I heard a failed and desperate president who as war spirals and prices rise is as always focused on his grievances, his shame, and above all his fear of the accountability that will come with defeat.

I also heard a president signaling his unmistakable intent to attack these elections and our voting rights, just as he tried to throw out our votes and seize the presidency in 2020.

Our answer will be overwhelming.

Across Georgia a wave of defiance is building to rebuke him so decisively that no president ever again dares such brazen corruption and abuse.

The power of the presidency is nothing compared to the power of the people.

[Greg Bluestein @bluestein]

A notable move from Gov. Brian Kemp: After appointing Judge Paige Reese Whitaker to the Court of Appeals, he could have sidestepped Nikia Smith Sellers’ May election victory by naming someone else to the vacancy. Instead, Kemp just appointed Sellers, honoring the outcome of the election she won. #gapol

[Blue Georgia @BlueGeorgia]

Senate Republicans just blocked Jon Ossoff's bill to ban Members of Congress from trading cryptocurrency and stocks.

"We could go to any town, any county in Georgia, and ask anybody of either political party or no political party, 'Should Members of Congress be playing the stock market while we make legislation?' and overwhelmingly the answer would be no."

[Michelle Obama @MichelleObama]

Barack: You told me all those years ago that you couldn’t promise me the world, but you could promise me an interesting life. Of course, you outdid yourself and managed to give me both.

Eight years in the crucible, and not once did you melt from the heat. Not once did you let it harden you. Instead, you used it to reveal your truest essence: your stubborn optimism and unflinching courage, your dazzling brilliance and unpretentious decency, your ferocious work ethic and absolutely unshakable moral fiber.