Harris will not run in November City Council election
Former 'A-Team' candidate will focus on family, find other ways to give back
City resident and West Side activist Daniel Harris III [at right] has made a decision not to run in the upcoming City Council election.
Harris ran with the “A-Team” ticket in the May 2013 election and was expected to run with a similar ticket this November.
All five council seats are up for grabs in the November 4 election.
A Facebook group called “Uniting Asbury Park The A-Team” lists Harris as a candidate along with former running mates Remond Palmer and Duanne “King” Small, current Asbury Park board of Education member Kenneth Saunders, and Rosetta Johnson, but Harris confirmed he is not running with that ticket, or at all.
Harris said he is prioritizing his family life, work in the Second Baptist Church, and his professional life, which includes taking officiating classes so he can “maintain contact with kids and people in general — and it’s fun.”
“I’m focusing on doing things for the kids and the community, and these things are things I can do without having to be a city councilman,” he said. “A lot of people can do good from behind the scenes, you don’t need to grandstand all the time.”
“If you can’t do it completely and correctly, do not do it at all,” Harris said about holding a position on the city council.
Harris retired from Newark Tech in 2013 after serving 25 years as a shop teacher and athletic director.
In his retirement, he has learned a lot from members of the West Side community about grassroots organizing and is looking to give back in other ways, he said.
Harris supports any candidate who supports the mission of the West Side, which he defines as educational opportunities for children on the West Side, growing economic opportunity through the support and expansion of training programs, and that the members of the board of education and city council members forge a better working relationship.
He made local headlines after he filed a challenge to the results of the May 14 city council election. The challenge sought to have 332 vote-by-mail and 32 provisional ballots that were disallowed by the Monmouth County Board of Elections counted, which were enough to change the election results.
A Monmouth County Superior Court judge later ruled the ballots should not be opened due to improper filing procedures.
Harris’s daughter, Nicolle D. Harris, is the vice president of the Asbury Park Board of Education.
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