Auditor DiZoglio suing to force legislature to cooperate with her audit
BOSTON - It's an escalation of what was already a big-time Beacon Hill showdown.
State Auditor Diana DiZoglio says she's suing to force the state legislature to submit to her audit. Her vow to audit the legislature was a key campaign pledge last year.
But she hit a stone wall in the form of House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka, who both say such an audit would be unconstitutional. "I don't know why she feels this compunction to audit us," said Mariano in a recent WBZ interview. "I don't accept the notion that as a separate entity of government, one of the three branches, she has the authority to audit us."
Mariano claims there is already sufficient oversight of legislative spending. But annual reviews by an outside accounting firm are short on detail. Info provided by the state comptroller's office does document spending by both branches, but DiZoglio says she wants to dig much deeper, into how these bodies make rules, committee appointments and other internal policies.
The senate's response includes a major proposed cut in DiZoglio's office budget. So, the standoff appears headed for the courts. And the local political world is watching.
In a WBZ interview that airs this Sunday, July 30 at 8:30 a.m., the head of the state GOP endorsed DiZoglio's crusade. "I think the fact that our legislative leaders are pushing back so hard on this audit is an indication that there are issues there," says Amy Carnevale.
But the speaker suggests this might be a fishing expedition where the fish aren't running:
"I hear you saying if she thinks she's gonna find something embarrassing about the House, she's going to fall flat on her face?" Jon Keller asked Mariano.
"I think that's a fairly safe assumption, yeah," Mariano said.
Governor Maura Healey, who has taken some flak over transparency issues of her own, issued a no comment on the auditor's lawsuit, but she did propose a multi-million dollar increase in the auditor's budget earlier this year.
There are some real constitutional issues here, and it will be interesting to see if the suit prompts a compromise of some kind, because both sides stand to lose power from an adverse ruling.
And after all, finding reasonable compromises is supposed to be what Beacon Hill's all about.