Attorney General Andrea Campbell is again telling the public that she is ready and willing to work with the state’s auditor to compel the Legislature to open its books.
“Let’s get it done,” Campbell said Wednesday on GBH’s Boston Public Radio. “We can. And I know we can. I even called the auditor recently after seeing her in Worcester. I have yet to hear back from her.”
The state auditor, in response, claimed it was an ethical violation for the attorney general to attempt to contact her individually while their offices are tangled up in a lawsuit. DiZoglio sued top lawmakers last month, without the support of the attorney general, and Campbell’s office is now representing lawmakers to try to get the case dismissed.
DiZoglio campaigned on auditing the Legislature when she ran for office four years ago. But she faced resistance from state lawmakers, who argued her office didn’t have the power to open their books.
The auditor then petitioned and successfully got a question on the 2024 ballot so that voters could make the call — which overwhelmingly passed with 72% of the vote.
But a year and a half later, no audits have been performed.
What at first glance looks like a bureaucratic fight has now played out dramatically — and publicly — for several years, coming to symbolize an intransigent state government that resists prying eyes.
After more than a year of public back-and-forth between her and Auditor Diana DiZoglio, Campbell chafed at the suggestion of a mediator.
“We don’t need a mediator, Jim,” she responded to Boston Public Radio host Jim Braude. “It’s been a year because the auditor has dragged it on.”
The Legislature has fiercely resisted any audits, with top Democratic lawmakers calling the idea unconstitutional and violating the separation of powers. But the mudslinging over the audit has mostly been between Campbell and DiZoglio.
DiZoglio has repeatedly and publicly demanded that the attorney general represent her office to compel the state Legislature to comply with an audit through the courts.
Campbell has resisted, maintaining for months that, even with the ballot initiative passed, there is a constitutional limit on just how much the auditor can review. To bring a lawsuit, she says, she would need more specifics on what DiZoglio wants the Legislature to turn over to make that argument before a judge.
Recent public remarks from DiZoglio may have answered that question. Campbell says she identified the specific scope of what DiZoglio wants from the Legislature while the auditor was speaking at a Worcester event earlier this month.
“I have only asked for financial receipts and state contracts. There is nothing unconstitutional about every single person in this room, and all of our families in our communities, getting access to that information,” DiZoglio told attendees at a Worcester event on Monday, March 16.
“She has changed that,” Campbell said Wednesday. “She said she was wanting to do more of a financial audit, and wants the financials and possible state contracts — those two things. I called her, I’ve not heard back, to say to her, ‘I think there’s a pathway forward.’”
When asked on Boston Public Radio Wednesday, Campbell did not not specifically commit to representing DiZoglio’s office once those answers are provided.
DiZoglio lashed back in a statement after Campbell’s appearance. She claimed the attorney general had made an ethical violation by attempting to contact her individually while her office is attempting to sue the Legislature.
“My position has not changed and what I want to audit has not changed,” DiZoglio wrote. “The AG is used to speaking with the Speaker and Senate President in private where no one can hear them conspiring about breaking the audit law and blocking my right to an attorney and due process under the constitution – but I will not participate in dark, shadow conversations with the AG about this lawsuit.”
The fight escalated last month when DiZoglio opted to sue the Legislature without Campbell’s support. The attorney general’s office is now defending the legislative body against that suit.
Attorneys with Campbell’s office are asking the state’s highest court to dismiss the case, arguing the attorney general is a necessary “gatekeeper” to one state entity suing another.
“That will do nothing to move the audit forward,” Campbell said Wednesday. “If anything, it’s gonna delay it. And that’s unfortunate.”
