Candidate for
Council Member; City of Carson

Mayor ProTem Mike A. Gipson was elected into the Carson City Council on March 8, 2005. Mike comes with a solid background in the areas of politics and public safety, owing to his profession as a Union Representative, training as lead staff person for various elected offices, and a successful career former police officer.

Although a first-time elected official, leadership and representing the people's voice are not new to Mike. Currently, he serves as an Area organizer for the 48,000-strong United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), where he ensures the enforcement of the contractual right of teachers.

Prior to working for UTLA, he was the Legislative and Political Director for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 399, the Political Director Statewide for Justice for Janitors 1877 SEIU and a Business Representative for SEIU Local 99.

Mike worked as a Staff Aide to Congressman Mervyn M. Dymally, State Senator Bill Greene and Los Angeles Councilman Robert Farrell, and as Field Representative for L.A. Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas. He was also an appointee of Supervisor Yvonne Burke to the County of Los Angeles Community Action Board, where he was the youngest ever to chair the powerful funding agency that distributes $10 million annually in Community Service Block Grant funds. As a Carson resident, he served on the Public Safety and the Human Relations Commissions and as a board member of Carson's Workforce Investment Network.

Additionally, he serves as Vice President of the Advisory Board for the State Public Utilities Commission, Chairman of the Board of Director for Positive Imagery Foundation, Inc., a Los Angeles-based agency that deals with HIV/AIDS and other STDs in the African-American and Latino communities. He also currently serves as California Contract Cities' Legislative Committee chair and the immediate past chair of its Resolutions Committee.

In the Carson City Council, he serves under various subcommittees, among them housing, labor negotiations, fireworks and teen center. During his tenure, Mike was responsible for establishing the Midnight Basketball program, which was a highly successful effort to remove at-risk kids off the streets during the summer. He is also at the helm of two productive endeavors targeting at-risk youth, namely the S.O.S. (Saving our Sons) and the R.O.S.E. (Reaching Out to our Sisters Everywhere).

Making a difference in people's lives is a strong passion for this young politician who is also a former youth pastor at the One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism Christian Church under the leadership of Bishop William Todd Ervin Sr. Mike believes that he is born to serve and attributes all his accomplishments to his strong spiritual foundation, the dedication to give back to his community, and to the values instilled in him by his labor activist parents, neighbors and friends in Carson.

Mike earned his Bachelor of Science in Business/Management from the University of Phoenix and his Associate of Arts degree from the Los Angeles Southwest College. He also attended One, One, One School of Theology. He received his Police Officers Training at the SouthBay Police Training Academy where he graduated with honors, propelling him into a career as a police officer for the Maywood Police Department.

Mike is a devoted husband to his wife La Cresha and father of two sons, Devon and Jordan, as well as many other young males whom he had taken under his wings as sons.