Auditor DiZoglio Says Senate Democrats are Breaking the Law with Audit Response

State Auditor Diana DiZoglio addresses members of the Boxford Republican Town Committee in November of 2024. (WHAV News photograph.)

By Alison Kuznitz

The group of Senate Democrats tasked with handling Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s quest to probe the legislature agreed Monday to meet with her office. While senators said they are looking for “prompt and constructive engagement,” DiZoglio said the response to her audit launch is the latest example of lawmakers “breaking the law.”

In a five-page letter responding to DiZoglio’s repeated outreach, subcommittee chair Sen. Cindy Friedman and Sens. Will Brownsberger, Jo Comerford and Paul Feeney proposed three possible times to meet on either Jan. 29 or Jan. 30. The senators said they’re looking for a “comprehensive and productive discussion” with the Office of the State Auditor about its proposed performance audit of the legislature, but also outlined a string of concerns, including constitutional separation of powers and the time period the audit is allowed to cover.

“There is no historical precedent for the OSA’s proposed audit,” the letter, shared by Friedman’s office, said. “Therefore, appropriate scope is very much an open question and one that raises unprecedented constitutional issues.”

DiZoglio told the News Service the Senate “has indeed drafted a letter explaining why they are breaking the law.”

“They’ve invited us to meet with them so they may reiterate the concerns they raised throughout their campaign against this issue becoming law,” DiZoglio told the News Service on Monday afternoon. “But the people don’t want another committee report full of excuses, they want the audit they voted for. We will be discussing the Senate’s letter with the AG’s office since we have already initiated the process of pursuing legal action.”

Following voters’ overwhelming support for Question 1, DiZoglio’s new authority to audit the legislature took effect Jan. 3. DiZoglio has since sent letters to House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka seeking to revive her probe and requesting specific documents as part of her initial audit, including financial receipts and state contracting and procurement documents.

“No other entity of the Commonwealth gets a special privilege of withholding requested financial records from our office and instead forming a subcommittee to avoid abiding by the law,” said DiZoglio, who for weeks has asked for Attorney General Andrea Campbell to step in to enforce the new voter law.

Campbell’s office has said it will not intervene until a legal dispute arises, and DiZoglio warned Monday that an outside group will “likely file a lawsuit” if the AG doesn’t act “soon.” Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance spokesperson Paul Craney, who’s part of the coalition that’s threatened to sue the legislature to force it to comply with the voter law, called the subcommittee’s letter a “clear delay tactic.”

“They should be complying with the law, not stalling,” Craney said. “Further meetings at the end of the month to discuss their concerns with compliance are only designed to delay the implementation of the law.”

Senators in their letter said “both the subcommittee and the wider Senate recognize the significance of the recent election, in which voters approved Question 1.”

“Thus, the Subcommittee, driven by a sincere regard for the will of the voters and a duty to fulfill its charge by the Senate, now seeks prompt and constructive engagement with the OSA about its proposed audit,” the letter states.

DiZoglio told the News Service she is “happy to meet with the subcommittee.” Still, she said her office’s “pursuit of legal action regarding their ongoing failure to produce financial records in accordance with the law remains in place.”

The letter to DiZoglio highlighted five main concerns: the audit’s scope, the time period to be audited, how the audit will be conducted, potential conflicts of interest and “process issues.”

Senators wrote the proposed scope of the audit “raises fundamental constitutional questions of separation of powers, Article 21 immunity, and independent legislative rule-making guarantees.” Article 21 of the state constitution states the “freedom of deliberation, speech and debate, in either house of the legislature, is so essential to the rights of the people, that it cannot be the foundation of any accusation or prosecution, action or complaint, in any other court or place whatsoever.”

The subcommittee expressed uncertainty over the intended time period for the audit to cover and suggested DiZoglio’s new authority may not be retroactive. DiZoglio’s office previously sought information stretching back to July 1, 2020.

“…[T]he authority purportedly granted to the OSA under Question 1 is presumptively prospective,” the letter said. “Thus, it would appear that any authority to audit or access legislative records under the new law must be limited to the period after its effective date, Jan. 3, 2025.”

About two weeks before Election Day, DiZoglio’s office released an audit of the legislature spanning Jan. 1, 2021 through Dec. 31, 2022, though the Methuen Democrat said top Democrats refused to participate. The subcommittee that the Senate established last week suggested DiZoglio, a former senator, might have violated “ethics, independence and professional judgment” policies contained in the “Yellow Book” of Government Auditing Standards since that probe covered a time when she was a state lawmaker.

DiZoglio also actively campaigned for Question 1, the subcommittee noted.

“This kind of directly relevant political activity may pose a conflict, not only for the 2024 Audit Report, but for any proposed audit in the near future,” the letter said. “The advice of independent ethics experts could be helpful in carefully considering such a potential conflict.”

The subcommittee also said it “might be highly beneficial” to seek advice from independent auditing experts on determining an objective standard for auditing the Legislature.

Craney said lawmakers’ concerns can be addressed in court, as he urged Campbell to defend the voter law.

“The attorney general cannot sit by any longer, she needs to side with the people of Massachusetts as lawmakers are now officially not in compliance,” Craney said.

Comments are closed.