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Page 18 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, November 1, 2019 THE SOUNDS OF SAUGUS By Mark Vogler H ere are a few tidbits that you might want to know about this week in Saugus. For a better Saugus Three days remain before Nov. 5 Town Elections when Saugus voters go to the polls to elect a new Board of Selectmen, a new School Committee, a new Town Meeting and two members to serve fouryear terms on the Saugus Housing Authority. Our loyal readers who don’t like to read about local politics surely aren’t going to like this week’s edition, as it is top-heavy in preelection news. And many of these readers probably didn’t like each of our editions last month either – as they were full of political announcements and coverage of the local races. But, as I’ve stated before, coverage of local elections is one of the most important functions of a local newspaper. That’s been my attitude during 45-plus years in the newspaper business. At times, over the past couple of months, it seemed like a daunting task, trying to explain to our readers about the Board of Selectmen and School Committee races, where there is a crowded field of 12 and 10 candidates, respectively – more so than in many a year. But, I dedicated much of the news hole to providing information to our readers – particularly the political announcements which were prepared by any candidate interested in introducing themselves to potential registered voters. Regardless of what we do, the Board of Selectmen candidates already get good exposure on SaugusTV, the local cable. The station filmed two candidates forums last week – one sponsored by the Saugus Chamber of Commerce, the other one organized by Saugus Action Volunteers for the Environment (SAVE). If you missed the forums, they can be viewed on www.vimeo.com/saugustelevision. You can also view about a half-hour-long candidates’ statements for the Board of Selectmen and School Committee candidates. For this week’s issue, we emailed each of the 26 candidates running in the town-wide elections and asked them – if elected – what they hoped to be remembered for two years from now as far as their most significant accomplishments. After some persistence, we got responses from 23 of the candidates. All of the candidates who responded offered some good ideas – which make up the centerpiece in today’s paper – “The Advocate Asks.” Hopefully, the people elected on Tuesday will consider many of these ideas in building a better Saugus. Hopefully, if you love Saugus, are registered to vote and care about the future of your town, you get out and vote on Tuesday for the candidates you believe will do the best job for the town. Absentee ballots still available If you are not going to be around to vote on Tuesday, Nov. 5, you can still make arrangements to vote ahead of time. Absentee Ballots are available in the Town Clerk’s Office. You can come and vote Absentee during regular business hours, or you can call to request an Absentee Ballot Application to be mailed to be completed, and then a ballot will be mailed to you. Noon, Monday, Nov. 4 is the last day you can vote absentee, according to Town Clerk Ellen Schena. So, if you can’t make it to the polls on Election Day, Nov. 5, you still have plenty of opportunity to vote, so unless you are dealing with some serious health issues, don’t make any excuses for not voting. Vote Absentee if Nov. 5 is a bad day for you. Mother and son race in Precinct 4 There are two candidates who live in the same home – 212 Essex St., apartment 102 – running for Town Meeting in Precinct 4. Maureen E. Whitcomb, one of the five current members running for the five seats, faces opposition from her 19-year-old son, Andrew, who happens to be second on the ballot of the eight candidates running. Maureen is last. So is Andrew worried about taking votes away from his mom? “My mother is a fantastic person who loves Saugus. We have discussed it, my mother also has her housing [Housing Authority] race. She said she would be proud if I got a seat even if she didn’t. That’s the kind of person she is,” Andrew wrote me in an email this week. “Hopefully we both win and we do not have to think about it. She said if I beat her she wants me to keep the seat and not resign just so she could fill it,” he added. Andrew plans to be hanging around outside the polling location at Belmonte Middle School all day Tuesday – holding two campaign signs. “I will be there with my sign, along with my mother’s sign for Housing [Authority],” he said. You’ve got to admire the passion of this young man, who aspires to follow in his mother’s footsteps as a Town Meeting member. You can definitely feel the civic pride that runs through his veins. Andrew loves his town. And he figures he can help it out by getting involved in Town Meeting. Civic-minded Saugus High students respond Saugus Town Clerk Ellen Schena says she is pleased with the response to her efforts to recruit Saugus High School students as paid and volunteer election workers. “I got five doing community service and three are going to be paid – and they’re all juniors,” Ellen told me Wednesday as she geared up for Election Day. “The great part is that I will have a lot of these students back next year when they are seniors. And I’ll probably get a few more on March 3 [the presidential primary] because they need community service. But the clerk said she will still need more adult election workers early next year. “I lose a lot of election workers in March because they are snowbirds during the winter months,” she said. It’s a little early. But if any civic-minded adults are looking for some part-time work around Town Hall early next year, go see Ellen at the clerk’s office and ask about election worker jobs. Campaign finance compliance check Campaign Finance Reports for the Nov. 5 Town Election were due on Monday, Oct. 28. And it looks like there was good compliance on meeting that deadline. All 10 School Committee candidates filed their reports on time. Eleven of the 12 candidates for the Board of Selectmen met the deadline. Alberto Vito Morgante hadn’t submitted a report when we checked the records at the Town Clerk’s Office on Wednesday afternoon. Three of the four candidates for the Housing Authority filed their reports on time. James A. Tozza hadn’t filed his report yet. There’s good reason why candidates for town office in Saugus should be more vigilant than ever in filing their campaign reports. A Suffolk County grand jury indicted Selectman Mark Mitchell on several counts for alleged violations cited by the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) earlier this year. Court documents show Mitchell “falsely reported” the amount of money he raised for his election campaign two years ago. Mitchell reported to the OCPF that he had raised $2,453, two years ago, according to the documents. But a review of his campaign account shows that he actually raised $17,020. Rather than using the money for political purposes, Mitchell used the majority of the $17,020 for personal expenses, according to the documents. Mitchell failed to disclose donors, cash deposits, ATM withdrawals and various political expenditures, the court records show. He was also late in filing his reports and didn’t do so last year until The Saugus Advocate pointed out that they were overdue. Selectmen candidates spend $11,000-plus Campaign Finance Reports filed this week at the Town Clerk’s Office show that Board of Selectmen candidates have spent $11,310.81 so far. Here’s the breakdown: Corinne R. Riley, $3,222.81 Domenic Montano, $1,531.43 Selectman Scott A. Brazis, $1,515.79 Selectman Jeffrey V. Cicolini, $1,236.25 Former Selectman Paul H. Allan, $1,031.30 Christopher R. Jones, $981.71 Former Selectman Michael J. Serino, $839.67 Board of Selectmen Chair Debra C. Panetta, $500 Selectman Jennifer E. D’Eon, $361.06 Michael Coller, $91.09 Former Selectman Anthony W. Cogliano, Sr., 0 Alberto V. Morgante, unavailable Candidates for the School Committee have spent an aggregate of $3,115.21 so far. The breakdown: Thomas R. Whittredge, $944.50 Joseph D. Gould, $631.40 William A. Marchand Jr., $625.30 Ryan P. Fisher, $467.70 John S. Hatch, $446.25 A Roast Beef Dinner at St. John’s tomorrow St. John’s Episcopal Church at 8 Prospect St. will be hosting a Roast Beef Dinner tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 2) at 6 p.m. – accepting Visa and Mastercard. For more details, call the church office at 781-233-1242. A “Shout Out” for an unknown police officer For this week, we got a nomination from a Saugus woman who wishes to remain anonymous. She doesn’t want to be named because of “an incident” that prompted her to seek out an unknown officer who was working a police detail Tuesday (Oct. 29) at 11:00 a.m. on Central Street near Lincoln and Jackson Streets. “I told him about how as I was walking down the street last week and was followed about a block – and I think the guy was maybe looking to possibly rob me,” the woman said in an email. SOUNDS | SEE PAGE 22

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