Audit the Legislature Rally: Dem. Diana DiZoglio Challenges Atty. General: “Sue Me”
REPUBLICAN ‘LEADERS’ BRAD JONES AND BRUCE TARR ABSENT
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, OCT. 15, 2025…..Nearly a year after voters approved a ballot measure to explicitly allow the state auditor to audit the Legislature, Auditor Diana DiZoglio on Wednesday publicly challenged Attorney General Andrea Campbell to “sue me” if Campbell still needs more information to enforce the law.
“The attorney general has repeatedly refused to do her job, to the point where I have even called on the attorney general to sue me and my office because of the allegations that we have somehow not provided information,” DiZoglio said at a rally outside the State House. “If she still needs information to be able to do her job, it is not just an option, it’s her duty to take my office to court so that we can ensure that she has all the information she needs.”
The event, billed as a bipartisan “People’s Hearing,” drew a crowd of reform advocates frustrated by what they describe as Beacon Hill’s refusal to implement the voter law. Attendees also collected signatures for three proposed 2026 ballot questions: one to subject the Legislature and governor’s office to the state’s public records law, one to overhaul the Legislature’s stipend system, and one to create all-party primaries.
Although organizers [lead by Republican State Committee member Kathy Lynch] emphasized nonpartisan messaging, the elected officials present were exclusively Republicans. Thirteen GOP lawmakers attended the rally, including Reps. Marc Lombardo and Joseph McKenna, who both spoke. House Minority Leader Brad Jones and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr did not attend. Two Republican gubernatorial candidates, Brian Shortsleeve and Mike Kennealy, also appeared.
“This was a mandate — 351 cities and towns all agree. And by the way, a huge number of Democrats voted in favor of this,” Lombardo said. “This is a bipartisan issue. And yet, it’s the Republicans in the Legislature that are pushing to have the wills of the people executed. The Democrats are avoiding. They don’t want to open the books. It makes you wonder why.”
Progressive reform advocates attended as well, underscoring the cross-ideological push for more transparency.
“It’s not about left versus right, it’s not about progressive versus conservative. This is about people versus power,” said Scotia Hille, president of Act on Mass, which is leading the stipend reform ballot campaign.
Hille criticized what she called a “slowest legislative session in over 40 years,” arguing that only three major policy changes have passed so far this year. “Is that what we’re paying a full-time Legislature for?” she said.
The 2024 ballot measure, approved by roughly 72% of voters, granted the auditor explicit authority to audit the “accounts, programs, activities and functions” of the Legislature.
House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka have argued the measure is unconstitutional, citing the separation of powers. They have also resisted DiZoglio’s audit efforts saying the Legislature already undergoes private audits.
“Consistent with how the Legislature has moved forward with every voter-approved ballot question in the past, we will consider next steps regarding how to best respect the Question 1 election results in a manner that aligns with the fundamental principles of the Massachusetts Constitution, including separation of powers,” Mariano and Spilka said in a joint statement last year.
Campbell, who has not filed suit on the auditor’s behalf, has said her office needs more information before going to court.
“There are constitutional limitations, so I need the auditor to tell me and my team what’s the legal strategy, what’s the legal basis, what’s the scope of her audit, and then we bring that to court,” Campbell said in March. “But until we have that, if we go into court, we will be laughed out of court.”
The attorney general’s office did not respond Wednesday to requests for comment on the status of the case or DiZoglio’s remarks challenging her to sue the auditor’s office if they have not provided all the information necessary to proceed with the case.
Reformers at the rally also pushed ahead on other transparency initiatives.
DiZoglio personally collected signatures for the public records ballot question, which would eliminate exemptions for both the Legislature and the governor’s office. Hille’s group is leading the effort on legislative stipends, which she described as “a pretty clear example of legalized corruption,” noting that leadership currently controls stipends for about three-quarters of lawmakers.
John Lippe, chair of the Legislative Effectiveness and Accountability Partnership, said the stipend proposal “will dramatically reduce the $5 million that legislative leaders hand out to favored legislators.” Pointing to bipartisanship, Lippe identified himself as a Democrat.
“Legislative leaders can and do take away those positions and this extra pay if a legislator does something they don’t like. This makes it clear that it really is loyalty pay,” he said.
Top Democrats have defended the stipend system. Mariano said stipends reflect leadership responsibilities and are a way to keep people thinking “about this job as a potential career.” House Speaker Pro Tempore Kate Hogan said they are “very important because you have people that are doing a lot of work, and you’re able to recruit people to do the work.”
As for subjecting the Legislature to the public records law, Mariano said earlier this year that “some things are better left to negotiate in private.”
DiZoglio told the News Service Wednesday: “If they have such a big problem with me and with releasing those documents to my office, I’m going to work to make sure that those documents are directly available to everybody.”
As the anniversary of the 2024 audit law’s passage approaches in a few weeks, frustration appears to be mounting for DiZoglio and the reform coalition.
“Our elected leaders have joined forces to tell us that our vote does not count,” DiZoglio said. “When we go to vote for something, the election will simply be denied if they don’t like what we say.”
Sam Drysdale is a Statehouse reporter for State House News Service and State Affairs Pro Massachusetts. Reach her at sdrysdale@statehousenews.com.
