Elihu Mason Harris (born August 15, 1947) is a retired American

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and college administrator. A member of the Democratic Party, Harris served as the 46th Mayor of

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

from 1991 to 1999; he previously served for 12 years (1978–1990) as a member of the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature (the upper house being the California State Senate). The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Califor ...

. He was the

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

of Peralta Community College District from 2004 to 2010.Krupnick, Matt
Elihu Harris to leave Peralta district
Contra Costa Times, January 13, 2010.

Early life

Born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, Harris moved to

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

during childhood and graduated from Berkeley High School in 1965. Harris earned a B.A. in political science from

California State University, Hayward California State University, East Bay (Cal State East Bay, CSU East Bay, or CSUEB) is a public university in Hayward, California. The university is part of the California State University system and offers 136 undergraduate and 60 post-baccala ...

, where he served as student body vice-president. Harris received a

Master of Public Policy The Master of Public Policy (MPP) is a graduate-level professional degree. It provides training in policy analysis and program evaluation at public policy schools. The MPP program places a focus on the systematic analysis of issues related to pu ...

from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1969 and a J.D. degree from University of California, Davis School of Law in 1972. He is a member of

Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911, at Indiana University Bloomington, it has n ...

Career

He has also served as a California Uniform Law Commissioner since 1981. Harris was the

Mayor of Oakland The city of Oakland, California, was founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1854. The city uses a strong mayor form of government. Until the early 20th century, all Oakland mayors served terms of only one or two years each. Oakland mayors now serv ...

from 1991 until 1999. From 1992 to 1997, Harris co-owned

radio station

KDIA KDIA (1640 kHz) is a commercial radio, commercial AM broadcasting, AM radio station city of license, licensed to Vallejo, California, and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by the Salem Media Group and broadcasts a Christian talk ...

along with former California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. Harris also co-owned Fresno radio station KFIG with Mark A. Lindquist until it was sold in 2005 and disbanded on Jan 16, 2008.Matier, Phillip and Andrew Ross
Elihu Harris investigated over college contract
''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'', March 27, 2011. Harris was the first major party politician to lose a state legislative race to a

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

candidate. He ran in a 1999 special election in hopes of regaining the

seat he previously held from 1978 to 1990, but lost to Green challenger Audie Bock. In the 1999 election, Harris, an African-American, sent targeted mailers to households in selected precincts, mostly

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, urging voters to vote for him and receive a

fried chicken Fried chicken, also called Southern fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or ...

meal if they presented a voting stub at selected supermarkets. There was voter backlash because of the perception of vote buying and had a subtext of racism. In his losing effort, Harris outspent Bock better than 16 to 1 ($550,000 to $33,000). Elihu M

His legacy in Oakland includes the naming of the Elihu M. Harris State Office Building after him, which was built in

downtown Oakland Downtown Oakland is the central business district of Oakland, California, United States. It is located roughly bounded by both the Oakland Estuary and Interstate 880 (California), Interstate 880 on the southwest, Interstate 980 on the north ...

near the pre-existing Federal Building and City Hall. The three proximate structures form a large triangle of massive government buildings in a larger business redevelopment area. From 2003 to 2010, Harris was

of Peralta Community College District. He had been interim chancellor from 2003 until receiving the post on a permanent basis."Peralta picks Elihu Harris as chancellor"
''San Francisco Business Times'', April 30, 2004. Following news coverage that raised questions about Harris' leadership, his contract was not renewed by the Board of Trustees when it expired on June 30, 2010. Harris and his wife also run a Berkeley funeral home that his parents once owned, according to county records listing him as its owner.

FBI investigation

In March 2011, Harris was investigated by the FBI in relation to a no-bid contract awarded to his business partner, Mark A. Lindquist of 1701 Associates, Inc, for $948,796 back when Harris was still Chancellor of Peralta and Lindquist was still President of the district's foundation, serving as a boardmember on its Board of Trustees. There were complaints about Lindquist's work and Harris did not disclose his business relationship with Lindquist until after the contract was awarded. Harris also declared his Piedmont partnership with Lindquist and three other partners in 2008 after Lindquist won the contract. But Harris and Lindquist signed real estate documents in August 2007 when the business bought a Piedmont property from

Pacific Gas and Electric Company The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered at Kaiser Center, in Oakland, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 million households in the norther ...

. Records show the deal had been negotiated for more than a year.

References

External links

Peralta Community College District website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Elihu 1947 births Living people African-American mayors in California African-American state legislators in California Heads of universities and colleges in the United States Mayors of Oakland, California University of California, Berkeley alumni UC Davis School of Law alumni California Democrats 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century members of the California State Legislature

Early life

Career

FBI investigation

See also

References

External links