Harris was the Mayor of Oakland from 1991 until 1999. He has also served as a California Uniform Law Commissioner since 1981. From 1992 to 1997, Harris co-owned Oakland, Californiaradio stationKDIA 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. Harris was the first major party politician to lose a state legislative race to a Green Party candidate. He ran in a 1999 special election in hopes of regaining the California State Assembly seat he'd 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, urging voters to vote for him and receive a fried chicken 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. His legacy in Oakland includes the naming of the Elihu M. Harris State Office Building after him, which was built in downtown Oakland 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 Chancellor of Peralta Community College District. He had been chancellor from 2003 until receiving the post on a permanent basis. 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. Records show the deal had been negotiated for more than a year.
