Photo credits: WBUR (left); Brandeis University (right)
BOSTON — Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio said Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell was engaged in “stall tactics” with respect to the ongoing standoff over enforcement of the voter-approved legislative audit law, warning the delays are “giving the Legislature more time to destroy documents and records,” according to a statement provided to the State House News Service and published by NBC10 Boston.
Campbell, speaking Tuesday on GBH’s Boston Public Radio, said she hopes “the voters get exactly what they voted for,” but suggested the path forward depends on the auditor’s office. “I hope the auditor stops the standoff,” Campbell said.
Voters approved the ballot initiative in November 2024 with nearly 72% support, which authorizes the auditor’s office authority to audit the state Legislature. Since then, House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka have argued the measure is unconstitutional, citing the separation of powers provisions in the Massachusetts Constitution. They contend that allowing an executive branch official to audit the Legislature would undermine the independence of the legislative branch.
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Campbell’s office said her office has requested information from DiZoglio about what the auditor believes she can and cannot audit, who would be sued, and what legal claims would be filed. Campbell has argued that courts would likely scrutinize those issues if the dispute ends up in litigation.
“There are constitutional limitations on what her office can audit the Legislature for, and even before the ballot question, we put that out there,” Campbell told GBH’s Boston Public Radio co-host Jim Braude. “She has to be able to answer those constitutional limitations, because if she goes into court to suggest otherwise, the misrepresentation is not OK — it undermines the credibility not only of our office, but also of the law itself. And we can’t do that.”
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In her statement to the State House News Service, DiZoglio rejected Campbell’s position and called on the attorney general to sue her office to resolve the dispute in court. DiZoglio also accused Campbell of wrongdoing in her handling of the matter, describing the situation as “public corruption.”
“The Attorney General continues to falsely claim that she needs more questions answered from my office. This is why I have called on the AG to sue me, and my office, so we can end this so-called ‘standoff.’ She won’t face me directly in interviews, however, and won’t sue me — as I have repeatedly called on her to do. Why? Because she is well aware that she needs nothing else from my office to be able to do her job,” DiZoglio said, adding, “She cannot continue to claim that my office hasn’t given her what she needs, yet refuse to sue me. It’s her duty to this Commonwealth to drag me to court if I haven’t provided what she needs to get this law enforced — and I’ll skip into the courtroom happily providing whatever is allegedly needed from my office.”
In her statement, DiZoglio went on to characterize Campbell’s approach as “stall tactics,” arguing the delays give lawmakers more time to dispose of records.
