President's Biography
Jim Gibson is President of the Colorado Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), responsible for coordinating the overall activities of the organization. His duties include setting organizational goals, managing daily activities and providing status update reports and future plans to the Executive Committee.
As a vigorous agent of change within the Democratic Party, Gibson led the effort to organize the state chapter, officially announced at a press conference with then-DLC Chairman and Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and DLC President Al From.
After conducting the initial membership meeting - a breakfast program with Sen. Sam Nunn, Gibson organized a number of panel discussions across Colorado, explaining The New American Choice, a 1991 document of policy initiatives, adopted by the DLC at the Cleveland national convention. The kick-off event included comments from Oklahoma Rep. David McCurdy.
Gibson has organized DLC policy forums on upward mobility, national economic strategies and affirmative action. In May 1992, he conducted a Democratic Senatorial Debate among Sen. Ben Campbell, Gov. Richard Lamm and Josie Heath.
Gibson has also been active in the DLC's national efforts as a participant at the 1990 New Orleans conference, where he was formally recognized for his accomplishments in Gov. Bill Clinton's DLC chairmanship acceptance speech.
One year later, Gibson was leader of the Colorado delegation at the Cleveland Convention and the Colorado representative in New Orleans in 1992. On a number of occasions, he has been recognized as one of the strongest leaders in the "New Democrat" movement - most notably as a participant at a press conference announcing Sen. John Breaux as the new DLC Chairman.
To communicate the important, continuing transformation of the Democratic Party, Gibson mobilized the state chapter to conduct an intensive media tour in September and October 1992. Fifty-four press background sessions were completed, resulting in 20 radio interviews (including two networks), five newspaper articles and two television appearances.
In partnership with the national DLC, Gibson initiated the effort to conduct the DLC Western Regional Conference in Denver in May 1994, the first of its kind. The conference included a variety of well-known speakers including national and local elected officials and policy experts.
Gibson has published commentaries in The New Democrat, The Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph, Pueblo Chieftain, Colorado Statesman and many other newspapers. He has appeared as a panelist on the public television show - "Colorado Inside Out," a NAFTA advocate on a PBS affiliate television station, and was a regular commentator on KDEN Radio.
Gibson was recognized by the Denver Post as a leader to watch in the 21st century. The piece began by saying, “He's the silent, behind-the-scenes intelligence and organizer for Colorado Democrats, and it is his forethought and creativity that have spawned some of the best Democratic Party policies yet.”