Last week we chronicled the results of the annual election from 1988, when Thomas McNulty claimed the chairmanship on the Board of Selectmen, becoming the highest vote-getter in that race after a year away from the board.
This week, we’re diving even further into the past, going back to 1978, when Paul Warren pulled off a major upset in the race for School Committee, ousting incumbent R. Craig McGarvey. But, as is often the case, the story wasn’t quite as simple as that. Warren won his new post by a margin of just four votes, and McGarvey said he planned to petition for a recount.
Interestingly, the scenario described above has a pair of modern-day parallels.
The first comes from this year, when incumbent Sarah Gold was upset by a field of challengers that included former School Committee member Jenn Schaeffner and former Glover School Principal Brian Ota. The second comes from the race for Light Commission in 2022, when Jean-Jacques Yarmoff knocked off Walter E. Homan by just 19 votes. A recount in that race only extended Yarmoff’s victory, adding 14 votes to his count.
Warren, in 1978, was carried into office on the back of a sticker campaign — voters literally placed a sticker with their preferred candidate’s name in the space for write-in votes. The Daily Evening Item reported at the time that Warren welcomed a recount and believed his victory would only be reaffirmed by another count.
The other vacant School Committee seat went to Dexter Bucklin, an incumbent.
Elsewhere on the ballot that year, all five members of the Board of Selectmen won reelection, handily fending off a challenge from Everett Goodwin, who trailed John Whipple by more than 400 votes. Goodwin was the lead vote-getter amongst the challengers, all of whom ultimately fell short, with H. James Laboeuf Jr., Harry Christensen, William Cavanaugh Sr., and George Duran all trailing Goodwin and the rest of the incumbents.
And, in the race for Recreation and Parks Commission, Raymond Katzen and Gerald Clay claimed two open seats on the back of sticker and write-in campaigns, respectively. In a bizarre twist, Clay didn’t launch his campaign until the weekend prior to the election. F. Carlton Siegel’s write-in campaign, on the other hand, faltered, with the former commissioner finishing seventh in the race.
On the Board of Health, Chairman Bruce Humphrey handily fended off three challengers to claim reelection.
In other contested races, Michael Flachbart won a seat on the Municipal Light Commission, defeating Arthur Strang. Irving Block claimed a one-year unexpired term on the commission, defeating Ronald Gonn and James Whatmore.
Frederick Bauer emerged victorious in the race for Planning Board, with Gordon Blanchard coming in second to claim the other open seat on the board. Bauer and Blanchard outpaced James Hobin Jr. by more than 100 votes each.
In 1978, the town saw 4,786 registered voters head to the polls — good for a 37 percent turnout.