Massachusetts: Fall River Mayor takes leave of absence and quits run for new term

The saga of Fall River Mayor Jasiel F. Correia II (D) seems to be hurtling to a conclusion, as he announced that he is taking a temporary absence from the job and quitting his run for another term.

Correia recently survived a preliminary election and has moved into a face off against a school committee member and community activist in November.

Correia lost a recall vote in March yet won his seat in the five candidate replacement race, and is once again under indictment, though this time on bribery and extortion charges over his dealings with marijuana vendors.

Correia faced the recall after being indicted for stealing from investors and tax fraud. He lost the recall run overwhelmingly, 7829-4911. However, Massachusetts allows a candidate facing a recall to run in the replacement race (not that uncommon a provision). In this case, Correia was one of five candidates. He came in first with about 35% of the vote, beating out City Councilor Joseph Camara, School Committee member Paul Coogan, School administrator Kyle Riley and Erica Scott-Pacheco. Coogan came in first in the preliminary election.