State Auditor Diana DiZoglio is turning up the heat in her bid to audit the Massachusetts Legislature, saying she’s ready to get the courts involved after a monthslong standoff with top lawmakers.
DiZoglio on Wednesday announced that she’s pursuing litigation against the House and Senate, and sent a memo to Attorney General Andrea Campbell asking for her support. A Campbell spokesperson said the office is reviewing DiZoglio’s letter and will “respond in due course.”
A Methuen Democrat who previously served in both the House and the Senate, DiZoglio campaigned last year on a platform that included a pledge to audit the Legislature. She said Wednesday that such an audit “reflects the will of the people.”
"Folks are fed up. They're tired. They want access,” DiZoglio said. “They want to know that their officials are not playing games with their taxpayer dollars. They want to know that they can trust their elected officials.”
Since DiZoglio announced the audit in March, House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka, also Democrats, have refused to comply. They argue the probe is unconstitutional and say DiZoglio’s office lacks the authority to conduct it.
"We have two legislators who were elected by a very small fraction of the state twisting and weaponizing both Massachusetts General Law and the Constitution against the people of the entire state of Massachusetts to try and shield themselves from basic accountability," DiZoglio said at a press conference in her office, flanked by stacks of books and and files containing past reviews of the Legislature.
Some of the documents showed probes of a limited scope, like a 1952 examination of the sergeant-at-arms’ accounts and a 2006 report on the protections against computer viruses at the Legislative Information Services office.
DiZoglio is eyeing a much more comprehensive review, seeking information on the Legislature’s hiring, spending, procurement and internal procedures around things like assigning lawmakers to committees.
A Spilka spokesperson, reiterating the Senate's stance that DiZoglio's office "lacks the statutory and constitutional authority to audit the General Court," said the Senate makes its business public in a variety of ways and undergoes an annual audit from an outside firm.
Mariano made similar points about the House in a March letter to DiZoglio, writing: "For an executive officer to claim any authority over the General Court is to suggest an authority over the people themselves."
In her 19-page letter to Campbell, DiZoglio cites 113 past audits that looked at some aspect of legislative operations and makes the case that her office has broad authority to audit the departments of state government, including the Legislature.
The attorney general represents state entities in lawsuits. DiZoglio didn’t say what her plans are if Campbell declines to back her up.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” she said.
