Massachusetts: Recall rewind -- The history of the Saugus' use of the recall

The Daily Item's Tara Vocino has a good look back at the last Saugus recall, 40 years ago. The reason was the same -- a firing of a town manager.

What’s different this time around is that at the time of the last recall, elected officials facing the possibility of recall had the option of starting over — in a sense. They could resign and enter the special election as private citizens in an attempt to get voted back into office According to town counsel John Vasapoli, the town charter was amended in 1979 to require any elected official who is voted out as part of a successful recall to wait two years before running for office again. 

Fast forwarding to today, that means if Selectmen Paul H. Allan, Maureen P. Dever, Ellen L. Faiella and Stephen L. Castinetti are recalled, they can’t run again until 2017. Four decades ago, selectmen Clayton Trefry, Christie Serino, David Dwyer and John Bucchiere resigned their seats and were among 14 candidates on the ballot. Selectmen Benjamin MacGlashin did not resign and was subject to recall.

Bucchiere, MacGlashin and Dwyer were voted out of office in the special election, while Trefry and Serino were the only two selectmen to retain their seats.

And there's a previous recall as well in 1961 -- over an alcohol license. The town council refused to approve the license and then approved one for a different story. Selectmen Samuel Ludwig, Arthur Gustafson Sr. and Benjamin Rice, who were against granting Carr’s the license, were recalled.