Rebecca Jackson

Rebecca Jackson is a former Republican politician from Louisville, Kentucky, previously serving as the Jefferson County Judge/Executive and also running unsuccessfully for the party nomination for governor. She is now the chief executive officer of the WHAS Crusade for Children, a local charity that operates a large annual local telethon.

Jackson first won elective office in 1989, upsetting a long-time Democrat incumbent Jefferson County clerk. She was re-elected in 1993. In 1998, Jackson ran for and won the race for Judge/Executive, and served one term. She was the last person to serve in that office before city and county governments merged in 2002; the office was largely replaced by the Mayor of Louisville Metro, though technically the office still exists in a largely ceremonial capacity. Jackson had been a staunch proponent of a consolidated city-county government.

Jackson ran for governor in 2003, losing in the primary election to Ernie Fletcher, who eventually won the seat.

Jackson joined the WHAS Crusade for Children in 2005, the first person from outside the WHAS-TV corporate structure to hold the post. [cite news|url=http://louisville.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2005/05/23/daily21.html|title=Rebecca Jackson named WHAS Crusade for Children CEO|publisher=Business First of Louisville|date=2005-05-25|accessdate=2007-06-10] She has been instrumental in establishing an endowment for the telethon, funded by bequests from people who left the Crusade donations in their wills. This endowment is designed to fund the day-to-day operating expenses of the organization, allowing 100 percent of the donations collected from the general public to go directly to agencies providing direct services to children with special needs.

Jackson is also active in her church, Highview Baptist Church. In 1980 she founded Kentucky's New Horizons, a social-recreation program for adults with handicaps, a ministry of Highview Baptist. She has directed it ever since. In 2006, she was appointed by Fletcher to the Board of Trustees for the University of Louisville. [ [http://governor.ky.gov/newsroom/appointments/20060720ul.htm Press release from Gov. Ernie Fletcher: "Governor Fletcher Appoints Members to the University of Louisville Board of Trustees," July 20, 2006] ]

Personal

On the web site of her gubernatorial campaign, Jackson listed her "first home" as Short Creek, Kentucky.

Jackson was graduated from Southern High School in Louisville, and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Louisville.

Jackson has been married to Ralph W. Jackson since 1969. The couple has three sons and three granddaughters. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20030416023238/www.jacksonforgovernor.com/rebecca/ JacksonForGovernor.com, accessed through Archive.org on 2007-06-04] ]

References

External links

*cite news|first=Rebecca|last=Jackson|publisher="The Courier-Journal"|url=http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070601/OPINION04/706010372|title=A firefighter's Crusade story|date=2007-06-01|accessdate=2007-06-04