Peter Lucas: Massachusetts Legislature auditing plan takes on phase 2

Attorney General Andrea Campbell may have boxed herself in over the squabble of auditing the Massachusetts Legislature.

Campbell ruled last week that State Auditor Diana DiZoglio does not have the authority to audit either branch of the Legislature, a proposal that DiZoglio campaigned on and made a key initiative of her office since she was elected in 2022.

DiZoglio served in both the House and Senate before she ran and was elected auditor.

Campbell, in her decision, also declined to represent fellow progressive DiZoglio in her effort to sue the Legislature over its “closed door operation” and get it to open its books.

In a letter to DiZoglio, Campbell said the auditor’s office was created by the Legislature and vested with the authority to audit the state’s various state agencies and departments, but, she wrote, “that authority does not include the power to audit the Legislature itself over the Legislature’s objection.”

And the Legislature has objected.

While Campbell’s decision was welcomed by the entrenched establishment on Beacon Hill, especially by House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka, it is by far not the last word on the controversial subject.

For sure, Campbell’s decision was a blow to DiZoglio, who has upset Beacon Hill with her campaign to, in effect, oversee the sometimes murky practices of the Legislature.

But DiZoglio, in a related action, is seeking to place the issue on the 2024 ballot for voter ratification. She and her supporters, which include Republicans as well as Democrats, are seeking to gather the necessary 75,000 signatures by November 22.

DiZoglio said she and her volunteers have already gathered some 50,000 signatures and was confident of gathering more than the necessary amount.

In one of the several ironies surrounding the issue is that Campbell, despite pressure from the leaders of the Legislature, earlier certified and approved the wording of DiZoglio’s initiative petition she now says is unconstitutional.

If DiZoglio’s initiative petition question allowing her to audit the Legislature was constitutional when she approved it on Sept. 6, why did Campbell decide that it was unconstitutional a month later?

The indications are that Campbell succumbed to mounting pressure from the State House establishment to join the effort to squash DiZoglio and the issue.

Campbell, a former Boston city Councilor and unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Boston, is new to the workings of the State House and undoubtedly is reluctant to ruffle the feathers of the establishment Democrats who run the place.

Speaker Mariano and Senate President Spilka, who hardly agree on anything, issued a joint statement expressing their appreciation and gratitude to Campbell for her decision.

Their long-held position is that the Legislature, a separate branch of government, makes its own rules and audits itself. And they have a case.

Because if approved, the auditor would have the power to oversee all the “programs, activities and functions” of the Legislature. This, in effect, would make the once-independent Legislature subservient to a member of the executive branch of government.

DiZoglio, despite Campbell’s ruling, is determined to forge ahead with her signature drive to get the question on the ballot in 2024 for the voters to decide. Given the public’s general negative attitude toward the Legislature, if the question gets on the ballot it will most likely be approved.

It will be a presidential election year with a large voter turnout. The yes or no on DiZoglio’s one paragraph initiative petition reads:

A LAW EXPRESSLY AUTHORIZING THE AUDITOR TO AUDIT THE LEGISLATURE.

Who’s going to vote against that?

So, if the voters approve the referendum, it becomes law over Campbell’s objections.

Then Campbell will either accept it as law or go against the will of the people by seeking to overthrow it in court. Good luck with that.

Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.