As president of the city council, Cliff Ponte first became mayor as a matter of law. He served four months in the seat after his predecessor, Jasiel Correia, resigned in September 2019, facing federal corruption charges.
Ponte never collected any of Correia’s $119,000 salary, which the indicted mayor continued to draw. During his brief stint in office, Ponte fired a mayoral aide charged with passing a bribe to Correia, and pressured two employees accused of fixing property taxes to resign.
This time around, Ponte’s hoping for a longer stay with an actual salary on the top floor of One Government Center.
On Wednesday, the 32-year-old real estate broker held a press conference to announce his candidacy in the upcoming mayoral election on Sept. 16. Ponte spoke outside Al Mac’s Diner, a local landmark he reopened with his family two years ago after it closed under prior ownership.
“I promise you here today and every day that you’re going to get leadership not stewardship,” Ponte said.
Ponte outlined an agenda of pro-business policies that he said will make it easier for companies to expand or relocate in Fall River.
“A Ponte administration will look for ways to give relief to the taxpayers with initiatives and incentives that will be a champion for small businesses,” he said.
Andrew Galvao, a close friend of Ponte’s and a member of his campaign, described Fall River as a city that has “reached a fork in the road.”
“The first option is to stay on the road we’re currently on,” he said. “This path is one where we continue on with business as usual, where we maintain the status quo and pander to the good old boy system that’s plagued the city politics for decades. This is the path where political cronyism, patronage and pay-to-play comes first.”
“Or,” Galvao continued, “we can choose the second path where we grab hold of our future, control our destination, and elect thoughtful, caring, independent, competent and visionary leadership.”
Ponte’s opponent in the election, incumbent Paul Coogan, is a former school administrator who defeated Correia in 2019 on a similar platform of anti-corruption. His predecessor, Jasiel Correia, and four of Correia’s former employees and associates have since been convicted of soliciting more than $600,000 in bribes from marijuana companies seeking to open in Fall River in the wake of the drug’s legalization in Massachusetts.
Ben Berke is the South Coast Bureau Reporter for The Public’s Radio. He can be reached at bberke@thepublicsradio.org.
