Continuing her criticism of a bill that would narrow the scope of a voter-approved audit of the state Legislature, state Auditor Diana DiZoglio on Friday issued messages to a pair of her fellow Beacon Hill Democrats.
DiZoglio called for Speaker Ron Mariano to step down from his job, and for Gov. Maura Healey to veto the bill if it reaches her desk.
“The speaker is acting like an authoritarian, and I am calling on him to resign,” DiZoglio said on Boston Public Radio.
She continued, “The speaker needs to retire, resign, move on. We need new leadership in our state government, in our state Legislature.”
DiZoglio said lawmakers “need to move on” if they “don’t think they need to answer to anybody.”
Mariano greeted DiZoglio’s comments with an ask of his own.
“The Speaker is calling on the Auditor to tone down the rhetoric,” a Mariano spokesperson said in a statement to GBH News. “Personal attacks will not solve the fundamental flaws with the audit ballot question — the legislation that the House passed this week does exactly that.”
The House on Wednesday passed a bill that Mariano and other House leaders say would create a path forward for the audit voters authorized at the ballot in 2024 while preserving the independence granted to the state Legislature under the Massachusetts Constitution.
The bill would allow DiZoglio to investigate only what it defines as the House’s “administrative functions” — adoption of annual budgets, official audits of the House and Senate by independent firms, spending by both chambers, and the execution of any financial settlements with lawmakers and employees.
DiZoglio, who earlier this week compared the bill to a dumpster fire, said Friday that the limits in the House bill would hamstring her office’s ability to conduct an audit.
“If the IRS knocked on your door, and you said 'Well, this is all you’re getting,' we’re sure that wouldn’t be the last you heard of them, right?” she said. “You need to turn over the records, you need to turn over the receipts that you have, to the extent that you have them, so they can do their jobs.”
Addressing his colleagues from the House floor Wednesday, Mariano said the audit dispute “has been fueled by deliberate misinformation, personal attacks, and a media that just can’t get enough of the spectacle.” He said state representatives took an oath to the state Constitution, and that oath requires them to “uphold the Legislature’s role as a co-equal branch of government — the branch closest to the people.”
“‘The people’ are not a proxy for the whims of a single politician,” Mariano said.
Mariano, who is running for reelection this year and has said he plans to seek another term as speaker, also pledged Wednesday that for as long as he leads the House, “there will be no bigger supporter of the members and staff who come to work everyday for the purpose of bettering their community.”
DiZoglio, too, is seeking another term as auditor. The Methuen Democrat is running without any Democratic or Republican opponents. She has called before for Mariano to retire amid the audit fight.
The House bill, which also applies the state public records law to the governor’s office and creates a framework for people to request and receive some documents from the Legislature, is under review in the state Senate.
It’s not clear how the Senate will act. The Senate voted last week to send a set of financial documents to DiZoglio, but hasn’t moved to write any audit terms into state law.
DiZoglio said she wants Healey to veto any legislation seeking to change the 2024 ballot law.
Healey has said she voted for the audit question, but she has largely stayed out of the fight between DiZoglio and the Legislature since the measure became law.
“I do believe that she did vote for this, but I need actual help here,” DiZoglio said.
