Massachusetts town demands audit of state Legislature be enforced: ‘Just unbelievable’

A local Massachusetts town board is stepping up for Bay Staters who approved the audit of the state Legislature, demanding House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka open their books.

The Reading Select Board has voted to send a letter to the top Beacon Hill lawmakers, expressing its “strong support” for the will of the voters to be respected and the legislative audit to be conducted, over 15 months after approval.

In November 2024, Reading voters overwhelmingly approved Question 1, with 66% of the 16,650 ballots cast, or 10,987 residents, in favor of the audit. That closely matched the 72% of Bay Staters who signed off on the measure.

Select Board Vice Chairwoman Melissa Murphy, who requested her colleagues to approve sending the letter to Mariano and Spilka, said in a Facebook post Monday that she hopes other local boards and councils across the Bay State join Reading in “urging the Legislature to honor the will of the voters.”

Murphy added that she finds it interesting that the Massachusetts Legislature is one of only four states that don’t follow public records law.

“You can’t do a (public records request) on a legislator, but they can do one on us,” she told colleagues at a meeting last week. “We don’t see their financials ever; they do their own private audit. It is clear that not only did Reading residents support this audit, but the residents of Massachusetts did.”

This comes as the fight over the audit remains red-hot on Beacon Hill.

Auditor Diana DiZoglio and Attorney General Andrea Campbell have been locked in a legal tug-of-war since voters approved the audit.

Siding with legislative leadership, Campbell has claimed that DiZoglio has not answered basic questions on the scope of the legislative audit. The AG argues that the auditor’s review may also violate the state Constitution.

The state Supreme Judicial Court earlier this month denied DiZoglio’s request for a special assistant attorney general to represent her in court – another setback in her legal battle to carry out the Legislative audit.

Campbell is representing Spilka and Mariano in the case.

The state Senate Republican Caucus has also called on Spilka to formally request the SJC to issue an advisory opinion “to effectively resolve any remaining issues” regarding the voter-approved Legislative audit.

Spilka and Mariano did not immediately respond to the Herald’s requests for comment on Tuesday about the missive from Reading.

“Reading officials understand that taxpayers deserve access to the government they pay for,” DiZoglio said in a statement shared with the Herald. “I commend them for stepping up to call out the outlandish lawbreaking by our Legislative leaders.”

Voicing his frustration over the lack of audit enforcement, Reading Select Board Chairman Christopher Haley highlighted how residents last year approved projects to build a new elementary school and a center for active living for residents 60 and older.

“If the five of us decided, ‘You know what? We’re not going to do it,’ that’s what’s happening with the audit,” Haley said last week. “The state approved something, and people are just making their own decisions, determinations, interpretations of how things should work.”

“This is just unbelievable that the will of the voters isn’t being endorsed on this,” he added. “It’s unacceptable. If any of us did that up here, we’d get called out.”