Community activist and University Heights resident Haile Rivera has decided to press the pause button on his run for City Council to work full time on the presidential campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Barrack Obama.

“I’m suspending my campaign,” he said in an interview last week.

Rivera, 30, had been after Maria Baez’s 14th District seat. He first announced his candidacy last September, two years before the term-limited Baez would be forced to step down. Since then, Rivera has sent out a barrage of e-mails criticizing Baez, outlining his positions, and reaffirming his desire to run.

Just last month, Rivera sent an e-mail to the media that read: “As far as my 2009 City Council candidacy for the 14th District in the Bronx, I can tell you that IT IS STILL ON.”

But a month later, it is off again, as Rivera decided to focus on the presidential campaign instead of his own.

Earlier this year, Rivera upped and left the Bronx to work for Obama’s quest for the Democratic nomination (see Norwood News, May 15). With the nomination locked up, Rivera was offered a position as a campaign organizer in Florida. He plans to take it, meaning he’ll be tied up until November’s election, giving him little time to further his own political career.

“I’m putting aside my personal ambitions,” he said recently.

Rivera is also concerned that people will accuse him of wrapping himself in Obama’s success to further his own agenda. “I want to be able to say I’m 100 percent behind Obama, and not have people say I’m doing this for [my own] political reasons,” he said.

Rivera may resurrect his City Council campaign in early 2009, but he admits it’ll be difficult to build momentum again in time for the election. Plus, he has other commitments: he heads two small non-profits, one here in the Bronx, one in his native Dominican Republic.

With his campaign frozen – if not officially dead – Rivera must decide what to do with the $1,700 he raised for the campaign. He said he might ask his supporters if he can give their contributions to Obama.

So with Rivera out (at least for now), who else has their eye on Baez’s seat? Only Yudelka Tapia, a community activist who ran for Assembly in the 86th District, in 2002 has registered with the city’s Campaign Finance Board.

Others in the mix include: Nelson Castro, a former staffer of Washington Heights Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat; Fernando Cabrera, the pastor of New Life Outreach International Church; and Mount Hope resident Hector Ramirez, a Democratic district leader.

Ed. note: A version of this article first appeared on the Web site of the Mt. Hope Monitor.