Former AP Councilman Keady accepts Dem Assembly nod
Spring Lake resident was told to 'sit down and shut up' by Christie
Former Asbury Park Councilman Jim Keady [right] is throwing his hat in the legislative ring for the state’s 30th District Assembly race.
Keady, 43, a registered Independent, said he’s accepted the nomination of the Democratic parties of Monmouth and Ocean Counties to run for the seat, according to a statement he issued on Monday.
Keady, now a resident of Spring Lake, will compete against GOP incumbents Sean T. Kean and David Rible, both of Wall Township. The 30th District encompasses Jersey Shore towns south of Bradley Beach to Point Pleasant Borough as well as inland communities from Howell and Wall to Lakewood.
Known most recently as the man Gov. Chris Christie told to “sit down and shut up,” during an October press conference in Belmar, Keady was elected to the City Council in Asbury Park in 2005 before resigning for family reasons near the end of his four year term. He unsuccessfully sought a return to City Council on the A-Team ticket in 2013.
Keady, who runs his family’s tavern in Waretown in Ocean County, was the founding director of Educating for Justice, a nongovernmental organization that advocates for better wages and working conditions on behalf of Nike Inc. employees, particularly in Indonesia. Aside from touring this country to speak on social justice issues, he helped a trade union win a $1 million settlement for 8,000 workers at Nike’s Sukabumi plant. Likely because of his political activities, he was once expelled from Indonesia in 2014.
Locally, Keady has worked as a sales director at All Shore Screen Printing and Embroidery in Avon-by-the-Sea and runs a small youth soccer school.
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