Six years ago, then-state representative Diana DiZoglio broke a nondisclosure agreement on the floor of the Massachusetts House during an emotionally charged debate over workplace sexual harassment policies.
DiZoglio, now the state auditor, was ready Tuesday to seize a moment of wider spotlight to continue her quest to ban the use of NDAs in state settlements with employees who have been harassed or otherwise subjected to misconduct.
With many of the state’s top politicians — including Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll — in Chicago at various points this week for the Democratic National Convention, DiZoglio said she’d been told to expect a stint of a few hours as acting governor on Tuesday. Under the Massachusetts Constitution, the duties of governor travel down the line of succession when the governor is out of state.
Ultimately, DiZoglio did not end up holding the acting governor post — Secretary of State Bill Galvin, next in line after Driscoll, returned from Chicago before Driscoll left Massachusetts and plans to hold down the job through Friday. But DiZoglio said she was “peppered with questions” about her plans in the role, and that gave her a chance to think about how a chief executive could approach issues like NDAs.
“After seeing some of those opportunities and identifying some of those opportunities, I couldn’t unsee the opportunities to make meaningful change in state government,” said DiZoglio, a Methuen Democrat.
The auditor prepared a draft executive order, which she shared with reporters at a press conference in her State House office, that would ban state agencies under the governor’s purview from using NDAs in agreements resolving a worker’s claims of harassment, discrimination or other misconduct.
DiZoglio said she did not plan to sign the order if she had been acting governor, but wanted to present it to Healey and Driscoll as a proposal to consider.
Acting governors have used the job before to draw attention to their priorities. Galvin, as acting governor in 1998, notably filed legislation that sought to force more financial transparency from HMOs.
The proposed executive order comes a day after DiZoglio released an audit of the Massachusetts Convention Center Agency, which cited a $1.2 million NDA executed by the quasi-public agency.
“Years ago, you heard from me as a state representative when I broke my nondisclosure agreement and exposed that this building was utilizing these agreements and your tax dollars to cover up sexual harassment,” DiZoglio said. “That was for a six-week severance package out of a $30,000-a-year salary. Today, we have uncovered through our audit that was released yesterday ... a $1.2 million, taxpayer-funded nondisclosure agreement that was used to conceal allegations of racial discrimination and retaliation. How many more years are we going to continue not to take action?”
In 2018, DiZoglio revealed that she had signed an NDA to get severance pay after she was fired from a job as a legislative aide around six years earlier. She said she had signed the agreement under duress and was fired over discredited rumors about inappropriate behavior.
After three terms in the House, DiZoglio won a state Senate seat. She continued to push for a ban on NDAs in the Legislature and elsewhere in state government. When she ran for auditor in 2022, she campaigned on a platform that included a pledge to audit the use of taxpayer-funded NDAs by state agencies.
DiZoglio said that probe is underway and her office in some cases has been “struggling with delays” getting requested information from some state entities.
A Healey spokesperson said the governor’s office is “cooperating with the ongoing audit and will continue to discuss the issue with the auditor.”
