State Auditor Diana DiZoglio is pushing back on claims by the Speaker of the House that her pursuit of an audit of the Legislature is somehow politically motivated, and she says that her office is in the middle of asking the courts to intervene with the Attorney General on behalf of the voters who overwhelmingly approved Question 1 last fall.
DiZoglio says House Speaker Ron Mariano is “breaking the law” approved by seven out of ten Bay State voters during last fall’s election, which ostensibly should allow her office to conduct audits of the State Legislature.
The audit her office is currently attempting to conduct, the she told the Herald, seeks to examine only “financial and contract documents” that would normally be available to the public, if they originated anywhere but the halls of Beacon Hill.
“These financial documents we’ve requested are matters of public record for those who can’t exempt themselves from the public records law like the Speaker gets to,” DiZoglio said.
The law approved in November, as written, theoretically gives DiZoglio the authority to “audit the accounts, programs, activities and functions directly related to the aforementioned accounts of all departments, offices, commissions, institutions and activities of the commonwealth, including those of districts and authorities created by the general court and the general court itself.”
Despite its passage the Legislature has pushed back on implementing the law, pointing instead to routine audits of their work conducted by outside agencies and made public via the state’s website and establishing a committee to consider the Auditor’s requests of them.
Speaking Sunday with local CBS affiliate WBZ, Mariano said he’s not afraid of an audit of the Legislature’s financial records, what he is concerned about is that DiZoglio — a former lawmaker — seems to be acting out of partisan spite and not the interests of the taxpayers.
“The issue that we have is that we don’t want a political audit. We want a financial audit,” he said.
Mariano said that he believes the ballot question raises genuine “constitutional issues” like the separation of powers. The House has sought outside legal counsel to advise lawmakers ahead of a potentially protracted fight with the auditor in the state court system.
According to DiZoglio, Attorney General, Andrea Campbell, should be spearheading that fight on behalf of the voters, but so far has chosen not to intervene. DiZoglio seems to think the AG is holding back over concerns for her own department’s finances, which the Legislature is responsible for procuring.
“Attorney General Campbell is allowing the Speaker to break the audit law you voted for by scapegoating me personally. I’m filing a writ of mandamus to require the AG to enforce the law, yes, even for those who dictate her budget,” she told the Herald.
Campbell’s office said that they are aware of the auditor’s desires for legal relief, but that any action the Attorney General might take would only come after careful consideration of the matter.
“There’s a substantive process for requesting to bring affirmative litigation, involving actual planning and legal strategy. It seems the auditor needs a constant reminder that she must follow that process like everyone else,” Campbell’s Communications Director, Molly McGlynn, said Monday.
DiZoglio could not say when the writ of mandamus — a legal tool used to compel government officials to properly fulfill their duties — would be filed. She said without the AG’s cooperation, her office’s general counsel has been forced to add fighting for implementation of Question 1 to their regular duties.
McGlynn said the AGs office wouldn’t comment on the writ of mandamus, but simultaneously offered doubts to DiZoglio’s legal strategy.
“No writ has been filed in court, and nothing like what the auditor describes has ever been brought successfully against this office. So, we won’t comment on a baseless threat of a lawsuit,” she said.
In the meantime, DiZoglio said Speaker Mariano’s assertion that her audit is politically motivated doesn’t make sense, considering the information she — and the voters — are asking after.
“All we have asked for is financial and contractual documents — so it’s exactly the financial and contractual documents that the speaker is trying to hide,” she said.
