Annette Davis Jackson, an education advocate and 15-year resident of Lilburn, Georgia, has decided to vie for the honor to earn the voters’ trust in Gwinnett County and DeKalb County for the 2016 elections. Her sight is on achieving the great distinction of being a member of the “Gold Dome” in 2016.
The Spelman College alumna says her message is simple, “Let us raise the bar for our youth in Georgia to graduate at astounding levels and persevere with our citizen population to declare ‘success lives everywhere.’
“I truly applaud Gloria Butler for being the Incumbent for this district since 1999 and courageously look forward to the road ahead.”
Which office are you seeking?
State Senate
Name of the district?
55
What is the demographic?
Decatur, Grayson, Lilburn, Loganville, Mountain Park, Snellville, Stone Mountain
Why did you enter politics?
I entered the field of statesmanship because I have a passion to influence our community to be the decision-makers in the area of which they live.
I have been living in this Senate district for 16 years and I knew I could be of service to the district in the area of representation. I saw abuse of power with our senator trying to change the Snellville charter to benefit the mayor and also removing a member from the DeKalb committee and I knew it was time to develop a greater leadership for the citizens in this district.
What challenges are municipal governments facing?
There was a great challenge with Snellville as a city with being able to hire the city attorney, city clerk and city manager. What solved this issue was the changing of mayors. Now, Snellville is on its quest to honor superior growth as a city.
Name the top three priorities you will address in your district if elected.
1. Establishing a ministry of sports and youth for the Senate district which covers DeKalb and Gwinnett — two counties, one vision for the purpose of getting our youth to foster a “CEO” mentality through career education coupled with technology careers, business enterprise, sports, music publishing and recording, public speaking, the arts, and nonprofit governance in a state-of-the-art facility with foundational funding.
2. Establish a one-stop shop state Senate District 55 office in the center of the district for outreach, information and programming.
3. Create a Senate district alliance with Businesses, Schools, Churches, and the wealth of the District to serve the best practices of the District an incubator high-performance project for citizens and a computer portal for two districts to disseminate information, calendar events, outreach services, etc., for the almost 115,000 citizens in the district.
What steps will you take to ensure you meet these goals?
1. Meet with the citizens in a town hall meeting to create a “blueprint” for the new “signature” District 55!
2. Work with students to develop the vision.
3. Facilitate foundation and private funding.
What are the key components of your political platform?
-Youth development
-Graduation is essential
-Senior and city security
-District beautification
-Veteran and business franchising
-The wellness compact
What is your perspective on sales tax?
Sales tax fuels the city infrastructure.
How important is political experience to effectively perform the office you’re seeking?
Political experience in community and business is very important to perform a “high performance” leadership position as a fiduciary member serving the United States, states, and local municipalities.
What type of innovation, technology included, do you believe the government needs to consider?
A new way to design the classroom, whereas youth can learn from all around the world using technology by being equipped with a “computer desk” like a drafting board where the educator becomes the facilitator of information to research, to include video games which highlight pedagogy which must be learned in textbooks.
Name three of your political accomplishments.
Candidate for state Senate – one must learn how one begins this quest and how to be fully compliant with disclosures.
Who are your political role models and/or allies?
My political role models are Abraham Lincoln, Shirley Chisholm, Paul Coverdell, Mac Collins, Newt Gingrich and Leo Smith.
Define public servant.
A public servant is one who provides and gives their performance as a listening agent and catalyst to ignite, motivate and increase civic engagement, thereby, turning the power of influence over to the community.
Are M/WBE (minority and women-owned business) certifications important? Why or why not?
Certifications are very important for credibility when beginning a business. It can increase the number of businesses that can succeed to a prescribed business model.
The 8(a) designation is actually a business development / mentoring program administered by the Small Business Administration for a company that has been disadvantaged, and 8(a) certification is part of that program. … Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) certification is race-based for minority-owned businesses.
Do you think public/private partnerships are effective? If yes, provide an example.
Yes, I believe public and private partnerships are very effective. Just the other day, I witnessed the city of Lilburn join together with the library system to erect a new city hall and library together on the same lot with public or private partnerships.
The library is beautiful and the courtyard for both invite citizens to become a part of this new venture of government cooperation is fantastic.
Complete the following sentences:
I am the best candidate because …
I have a passion to serve citizens of both counties in a comprehensive way, where citizens take ownership of the Senate district in which they live.
I represent my constituents because …
Their voice deserves to represented in the Senate and in their 55th District!
The leadership books that have inspired me are…
Dr. Stephen Covey
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
The two quotes/affirmations that I live by are …
“Life lives when you pursue greatness for others”
-Annette Davis Jackson
“I have a dream”
-Martin Luther King Jr.
