Election 2014: Jasperse says helping people is rewarding

Published 10:54 pm Sunday, October 26, 2014

When Rick Jasperse first ran for the state House of Representatives in 2010, he says his one goal was to help people.

“I worked for almost 30 years as a county (extension) agent,” said Jasperse, who is now retired and living in Jasper. “And the most rewarding part of that job was helping people. I knew that each day I walked into the office, each time I picked up the phone I had the opportunity to help someone solve a problem they faced.”

Jasperse, a Republican, was first elected to fill the unexpired term of Tom Graves, who had stepped down to run for the U.S. House of Representatives, in a May 2010 special election. He was elected to a full two-year term later that year and re-elected in 2012.

He faces Democratic challenger Charles O. “Chuck” Hendrix in the Nov. 4 general election for state House District 11. The district includes parts of Chatsworth and central and southeast Murray County along with sections of Gordon and Pickens counties.

Jasperse said his biggest accomplishment in the state House has been seeing H.B. 60, a bill he co-authored become law earlier this year.

“We worked on that over two years. It protects Georgians’ Second Amendment rights and allow them to better protect themselves,” he said.

The bill gained attention because it repealed a state law banning firearms in places of worship and allowing those places to decide whether to permit firearms.

“But it does more than that. It keeps certain people with documented mental illness from obtaining a weapons license. It says that when you renew your weapons license you don’t have to be fingerprinted again,” he said. “Your fingerprints don’t change. It bars the government from seizing your weapons in emergencies. They did that in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. It was a bipartisan bill. Jason Carter (a state senator and the current Democratic candidate for governor) voted for it.”

Jasperse said another of his significant accomplishments is seeing the Legislature enact a health care compact bill he co-authored with state Sen. Charlie Bethel, R-Dalton. That law asks the federal government to allow states that join an agreement to manage their own health care systems

“It’s a good state’s right bill. It just says to the federal government ‘We know what’s best for our citizens. Let us make these decisions,’” he said.

Jasperse said that education will be one of the big issues next year, as lawmakers decide what to do about the Common Core education standards for language arts and math developed by several states.

“At this point, we are still digging in and trying to learn about it. I’m on the study committee that’s working on Common Core,” he said.

But Jasperse said he doesn’t favor anything that might lead to a federal takeover of education.

He serves on the agriculture and consumer affairs committee, the appropriations committee and as vice chairman of the health and human services committee.

Jasperse and his wife Marcia have three adult children.