Nearly two years after Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly backed an audit of the state legislature, Newton’s state representatives are defending their vote to support a bill that stops short of allowing the state auditor to do so comprehensively.

Last month, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a bill establishing a framework for conducting audits of the state legislature—a bill that State Auditor Diana DiZoglio has widely described as unconstitutional in the weeks since. 

The bill outlines how the auditor can access the annual state budget enacted by the legislature, financial audits performed on the legislature by external auditors, an account of money appropriated to the legislative branch for its operations and how these funds were spent, and monetary settlements made by the legislature with former employees or other parties. 

DiZoglio filed a lawsuit against the state legislature in February to obtain documents in order to conduct an audit. She told the Newton Beacon that the documents requested by her office in filings with the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) earlier this year were only the beginning of a comprehensive audit of the state legislature that would have taken up to a year and a half to complete. 

“An audit is not a basic one-time public records request of a few documents,” she said. “They took some of the language from that initial records request for simply a handful of documents and incorporated some of that language into this bill to try to give the appearance of giving the auditor’s office what we asked for.”

In the 2024 election, the majority of Massachusetts voters supported an audit of the state legislature, with 72% voting yes on the ballot question. In Newton, 65% voted yes. 

All three Newton state representatives voted in favor of the bill. The Newton Beacon reached out to ask why they supported what proponents call the “transparency bill,” despite DiZoglio’s claims that the bill’s documentation restrictions would prevent her office from doing its job thoroughly. 

State representative John Lawn, whose district includes parts of Newton, said in a statement to the Newton Beacon that DiZoglio could instead choose a third-party firm to conduct an audit “to ensure total independence.” 

“I hear the clear message sent by the 72% of voters statewide, including 65% here in Newton, who demand greater legislative transparency,” he wrote. “This legislation strikes a balance that allows for meaningful oversight while preserving the principles of separation-of-powers essential to our democracy. I am proud to support a solution that provides immediate, independent oversight while upholding the democratic principles of our Commonwealth.”

State representative Amy Sangiolo, whose district also includes parts of Newton, said in a statement that the bill strikes a balance between the greater transparency voters asked for and financial information that is already available online.

“Voters asked for greater transparency. This bill delivers that transparency in a way that is consistent with our constitutional framework,” she wrote. “The legislature’s finances are already subject to independent audits conducted by a nationally recognized accounting firm, and those audits are publicly available. Legislative spending is also reported through the Comptroller’s CTHRU transparency portal, where residents can review expenditures online.”

Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio (Courtesy of Office of the State Auditor)

But according to DiZoglio, third-party audits are insufficient, and the Office of the Comptroller’s website doesn’t contain comprehensive information on each transaction.

“We go in and we verify that the expenditure that was made—that we could see that money was spent―we verify that that was a legal expenditure, and that all the dollars and cents are adding up to what was claimed,” she said. “The alleged, so-called ‘audits’ that the state reps are referring to are just a few pages of high-level numbers, with no itemized receipts, no availability to view state contracts, no availability to be able to view communications around contracts and how those state contracts [gave] out millions and millions of taxpayer dollars.” 

The bill also does not allow for the judicial system to decide on cases where there is a conflict between the auditor’s office and the state legislature on which documents can and should be released for review. DiZoglio said this strips the courts of their constitutional power and upsets the balance of powers between the governmental branches. 

She pointed out what she views as a double standard; that proponents of the bill want to limit the scope of an audit conducted by her office, which is part of the executive branch—in order to maintain the balance of power—but are taking away power from the judicial system to act as a third party if there is a disagreement regarding future audits.  

In an opinion piece written for the CommonWealth Beacon last month, House Speaker Ron Mariano defended the bill’s efforts to improve government transparency and claimed DiZoglio is spreading misinformation and making personal attacks against members of the legislature. 

“The people are not a proxy for the whims of a single politician,” Mariano said in a June 4 speech to the legislature. “[This legislation] gives the auditor access to financial documents that she requested, providing ample insight into the House’s finances.”

Mariano did not respond to further questions from the Newton Beacon about DiZoglio’s claims that the bill, if passed into law, would prevent her from conducting a thorough audit. He also did not address her concerns about power being taken away from the courts. 

State Representative Greg Schwartz, who represents part of Newton, said in a statement that allowing the auditor to access further documentation could breach the separation of powers between the government’s branches. 

“I should point out that outside of her filings to the SJC, the auditor has at times indicated that she wants to review a much more expansive range of information regarding the inner workings of the House and Senate. Specifically, these areas have included how both bodies are managed, how they are administered and how they order their affairs,” he wrote. “The principle of separation of powers between the branches [of] government would be undermined by allowing the auditor, an executive branch official, to demand these materials.”

DiZoglio was elected state auditor in 2022 on the platform of conducting a comprehensive audit of the state legislature. Massachusetts is consistently ranked as having one of the least transparent state legislatures in the country. 

She told the Newton Beacon that the “people’s audit,” as she calls it, has become a symbol of the demand for transparency across all aspects of state politics—and that the House bill goes directly against what voters wanted.

“The Speaker and the Representatives who are defending this bill are alleging that this just gives a limited scope of an audit and more clearly defines what we are able to examine,” DiZoglio said. “That is absolutely ridiculous … what it does is it gives the Speaker full control over any audit that will ever or would ever be conducted by the Office of State Auditor.”

DiZoglio said her office was never consulted on the bill and its effect on her office prior to its passing in the House. If the bill goes on to be signed into law, she expects it to be challenged in court. 

Prior to her current role, DiZoglio served in the legislature as a state senator for 10 years. She said she was not as familiar with the auditor’s office at the time, but was vocal about a need for greater transparency in other facets of government.

“I would debate the entire legislature at the same time on this issue because I know they don’t have a leg to stand on,” she said. “They know it too.”

DiZoglio said her role as the state auditor is to help and not hurt the legislature by catching clerical errors that can result in the misappropriation of funds—a mistake she says is not uncommon. 

“If this bill passes in any form, it will completely nullify our ability in the Office of State Auditor to conduct a legitimate audit of any kind,” she said. “It empowers the legislature to control the scope entirely, and that is not the independent audit that the people of this Commonwealth voted for.”