Mr. Dickson combines over twenty years of political strategy, business communications, public affairs skills, and crisis management experience with a solid background of political organizing and campaign management.
His company, Groundswell Communications, Inc., has provided strategic communications, media training, constituency development and grassroots campaign services, and public affairs advising to a wide range of clients. He currently manages labor-industry cooperative efforts for the skilled craft unions of the North America’s Building Trades Unions and major industries and companies.
Mr. Dickson has consulted or managed political campaigns in nearly thirty states. He has served as a state Democratic Party executive director, worked on the Democratic National Committee staff as Western Region Political Director, and guided the party’s national redistricting efforts as Project 500’s executive director. He was the Democratic Party’s national coordinator of education and training, and developed the Democratic Party’s Election Force grassroots organizing effort in the 1986 and 1988 campaign cycle. His political background includes extensive work in developing communications, organizational, and grassroots political organizations for statewide campaigns.
His U.S. campaign experience includes Kennedy for President 1980, Harold Washington for Mayor of Chicago 1983, Tom Harkin for Senate 1984, Harry Reid for Senate 1986, Tim Wirth for Senate 1986, Cecil Andrus for Governor 1986, Neil Goldschmidt for Governor 1986, Dukakis for President 1988 (Washington State GOTV Director), and was the Illinois coordinated campaign director for the Clinton Gore campaign in 1992. He has trained hundreds of organizers for party and labor organizations around the country as well as a host of local and state legislative contests. He has provided campaign strategy and other campaign services for political party organizations in Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Mongolia, Japan, and South Korea.
Mr. Dickson has worked successfully with the AFL-CIO to oppose “paycheck protection” measures in several states. His ballot initiative background includes several statewide ballot initiatives. Mr. Dickson has been a major provider of voter contact services for organizations such as the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, and EMILY’s List. He has also provided voter contact services to the NAACP National Voter Fund. In a corporate environment, Mr. Dickson has worked for Washington’s largest public affairs company as senior associate in the public relations firm, as senior vice president for the lobbying division, and as president for the firm’s grass roots organizing division. Mr. Dickson also served as the firm’s communications director and managed the company’s charitable giving program.
Mr. Dickson was educated in Iowa, where he attended the University of Iowa from 1977 – 1982. He has also attended the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, where he participated in the Aresty Institute for Executive Education.
Mr. Dickson has also been a member of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, AFL-CIO.
Mr. Dickson has been published in Campaigns and Elections magazine and lectures on political campaign management and strategy at American University and George Washington University.
