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Boxford Republicans last Wednesday voted to endorse a ballot initiative which would allow the state auditor to audit the legislature.
The Boxford Republican Town Committee voted unanimously to endorse the question after state Auditor Diana DiZoglio visited several area Republican committees to speak on the initiative. Voters will decide Tuesday whether to approve Question 1, which would give the state auditor the explicit authority to audit the legislature.
DiZoglio, a Methuen native, was fondly called one of their “favorite Democrats” by multiple attendees.
“We are putting on the ballot, to all of you, language that simply includes the words ‘including the General Court,’” she said. “For those of you who don’t necessarily talk about the legislature morning, noon and night, the General Court simply means the House of Representatives and the State Senate, the legislative body here in Massachusetts,” she said.
She added, “So it says including the General Court in the language of the law and it adds that into where it already says ‘all departments of the Commonwealth. That way there’s no more confusion.”
DiZoglio told attendees other departments in the state “recognize that all means all.”
The initiative, if passed, would clarify that the auditor has the authority to audit the legislature.
Former Haverhill resident and business owner Jeffrey G. Linehan, committee chairman, said “[We’re feeling] really positive. Diana is just the best. She knows what she’s doing, she’s looking out for our best interests and especially with the conservative vote, we’re behind her 100%,.”
Opponents have argued that allowing the auditor, an executive branch official, to conduct an audit would violate Article 30 of the state constitution, which describes the separation of powers between government branches.
Central Connecticut State University Political Science Professor Jerold Duquette in a guide mailed to voters argued the question would make the state auditor a political actor, noting that a yes vote could compromise the state auditor’s ability to “carry out her fundamental constitutional duty” to conduct “credible, independent, objective and non-partisan” audits of state government departments and programs.
DiZoglio aimed to allay concerns over the constitutionality of the question, noting she has “become a student of the Constitution” during the campaign. “The Constitution is there to protect the people, not the politicians. But right now, we have a handful of very powerful politicians that are weaponizing the constitution against the people it’s there to protect and trying to claim that the constitution is there to protect them,” she said. “They are trying to claim that they are exempt from any oversight from any other branch of government,” she said.
She said she believes the issue has been “blown out of proportion” by “certain legislative leaders.”
“My question to that is ‘What are you hiding?’ Thou doth protest too much,” she said. “If there’s nothing to hide, then even if it’s just to demonstrate to the public that there is nothing to hide, why not just disclose those documents, make them a matter of public record as they should be and cooperate with our office to instill the public’s trust?” DiZoglio asked.
One legislator, Republican Sen. Minority Leader Bruce E. Tarr, was in attendance.
“I think it’s something that we should continue to consider and I’m glad to be here tonight to hear the auditor explain the substance of the question,” he said.
WHAV will post Associated Press election results—from president to the five ballot questions—at WHAV.net Tuesday night, beginning at 8 p.m., when polls close.