Castinetti battles Saugus board over ethics investigation

SAUGUS – Selectman Steve Castinetti told the Board of Selectmen that the report of the investigation against him was full of holes, and suggested they “get a refund.”?You?ve got a 22-page report, that found nothing to show that I?ve done anything illegal, unethical or immoral in my dealings in business with this town,” said Castinetti.The investigation accused Castinetti of pressuring Saugus business owners to purchase Yellowbook advertisements in exchange for favorable votes from the board and inserting himself into town hiring practices.Chairman Michael Serino said his concern in launching the investigation was that “everything should be in the open” and that residents deserved to know, especially with an upcoming election.Castinetti said he wouldn?t allow his presence on the board to disrupt him from making a living, and pointed to fellow Selectman Stephen Horlick as the owner of Wakefield-based company VCR Technologies Inc. as an example. “My question is, everybody on town boards have jobs,” he said. “Does that mean that everybody is restricted?”Horlick fired back that he had refused “serious money” from selling cable and TVs to businesses in town. “A lot of businesses call me up and want me to do work for them and I say to them, ?Absolutely not. I will not sell you cable, will not hook TV up to the wall, I will not even tell you where to buy them,” he said, later adding, “With all the entertainment licenses we give out, there?s tens of thousands of dollars of work for them I could have done, but I decided not to because it was a potential conflict of interest.”The board passed, with a 4-1 vote, two policies that will require certain conduct from town officials as well as restrict or limit them from soliciting businesses. The vote also gave the green light for additional investigation of Castinetti by the State Ethics Commission, though he already has written approval from the commission.Castinetti loudly voted no on the vote. Selectman Debra Panetta and Selectman Julie Mitchell did not speak on the issue.