SAUGUS Vol. 24, No. 45 -FREETh e Advocate – A household word in Saugus! DOCATE D E C www.advocatenews.net Town Election 2021 Board of Selectmen candidates had already spent more than $15,000 going into the fi nal eight days of their campaigns THE MOST EXPENSIVE CAMPAIGN: Saugus Board of Selectmen Vice-Chair Debra Panetta raised $6,125 and spent $5,635.86 – the most campaign money among 20 candidates who ran town-wide for public offi ce in the town’s Nov. 2 town election. (Courtesy photo to the Saugus Advocate) By Mark E. Vogler V eteran Selectman Debra C. Panetta, like most of her opponents in the Nov. 2 town election, worked hard to get elected. The 2,121 votes she received were second best among the 10 candidates who ran for the fi ve seats on the board. But Panetta also waged the most expensive campaign for the voluntary, two-year term she will serve as the new Board of Selectmen vice-chair. With eight days left before the election, she had already spent $5,635.86 on post cards to voters, postage, newspaper ads and political signs, according to the campaign fi nance report she fi led with the Saugus Town Clerk’s Offi ce. Two years ago, Panetta spent $4,752.76 on her campaign. She has already surpassed that amount and is expected to spend substantially more on this year’s race. Two more reports are due: one for a month after the election; another for the year’s end. Overall, the 10 selectman candidates spent an aggregate of $15,447.36 with about a week left in the respective campaigns, according to a review of the Campaign Finance Reports documents posted on the Town of Saugus website (https://www.saugus-ma.gov/ town-clerk/pages/campaign-fi - nance-reports). The candidates raised $7,911.50 collectively. And their outstanding liabilities totaled $30,516.07. Meanwhile, the seven candidates vying for the five School Committee seats raised $1,113.36 and spent $1,944.96, substantially less, on their respective town-wide political Published Every Friday 781-233-4446 Friday, November 12, 2021 Honoring Our Veterans HONORING OUR VETERANS: Left to right, Keynote Speaker Andrew Biggio (Iraq/Afghanistan), joins fellow veterans Lloyd Sayles (Vietnam) and Eugene Decareau, (a U.S. Army veteran from the Korean War era) as they await the start of the Saugus Veteran’s Day program at the Veterans Park yesterday (Thursday, Nov. 11) . See pages 3 & 7 for photo highlights. (Advocate photo by Tara Vocino) campaigns. The three-candidate race for the Saugus Housing Authority involved no campaign money. Here is a summary of the campaign fi nance reports that were due eight days before the election: Debra C. Panetta was reelected with the second most votes (2,121) to win the vice-chairmanship of the Board of Selectmen for the next two years. During the period of Jan. 1 to Oct. 25, 2021, she raised $6,125 while spending $5,635.80. With the money spent on this year’s campaign, her total outstandELECTION | SEE PAGE 4 Another swearing in School Committee begins a new term with one new member, Vincent Serino, who becomes the new vice-chair By Mark E. Vogler T he transition will be much smoother and easier for the Saugus Public Schools Administration following this year’s biennial Town Election. Superintendent Erin McMahon, who has been on the job since July 1, already knows four of the fi ve School Committee members who were reelected on Nov. 2. Her predecessor – former Superintendent David DeRuosi, Jr. – had to work with four new members plus a former member he had worked with previously after the entire fi ve-member board was replaced two years ago. That former member was Arthur Grabowski, who was involved in DeRuosi’s hiring, but was out for one term before being swept in during the 2019 election. But Grabowski was the lone incumbent who didn’t get reelected this year, fi nishing seventh in a fi eld of seven candidates and more than 500 votes behind School Committee Member Joseph “Dennis” Gould, who grabbed the fi fth and fi nal SWEARING | SEE PAGE 6
2 Publizr Home