The Massachusetts Legislature has been dodging an audit prefer it was manufactured from plutonium.
After a majority of Bay Staters voted sure on Query 1 final November, a poll measure giving the state auditor the authority to look at “the accounts, applications, actions and capabilities” of the Legislature, Beacon Hill lawmakers circled the wagons and slammed the books shut.
That didn’t deter State Auditor Diana DiZoglio, who requested Lawyer Common Andrea Campbell in December to greenlight a lawsuit to pressure the Home and Senate to adjust to the trouble to open up their funds and reveal particulars on inner proceedings, in line with a letter obtained by the Herald.
DiZoglio invited Campbell “to affix our workplace’s efforts to disrupt the shameful established order and shed a little bit of daylight on the woefully opaque” Legislature.
“Particularly, I request your assist to begin the method of litigating this matter because the Legislature has already didn’t even acknowledge, a lot much less adjust to, our present audit engagement letter,” DiZoglio wrote within the letter, which was additionally despatched to Gov. Maura Healey.
A spokesperson for Campbell mentioned the legal professional common “respects the desire of the voters with regard to Query 1.”
Maybe Lawyer Common Campbell ought to give the Legislature a refresher course in respecting the desire of the voters. As a result of because the lawmakers maintain placing up roadblocks to an audit, it’s clear they don’t get it.
In keeping with knowledge from Secretary William Gavin’s workplace, 66% of voters greenlit Query 1, and 26% voted no. The Legislature’s struggle isn’t simply with DiZoglio, it’s with the vast majority of Massachusetts voters.
And the lawmakers aren’t giving up, decided to maintain their operations to themselves.
Lawmakers even nixed an modification that may see the query of whether or not DiZoglio has the authority to audit the Legislature despatched to the Supreme Judicial Courtroom for overview.
Home Speaker Ron Mariano, forward of voting on a brand new algorithm for the chamber Tuesday, signaled that any try to pressure the Legislature to adjust to Query 1 by means of an inner rule change was probably doomed. He was proper.
And the voters? Outgunned by the Legislature’s all-but-one-party rule.
MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale condemned the transfer in an announcement as a deliberate try by Democratic management to defend themselves from scrutiny.
“The voters spoke loud and clear once they handed Query 1, but far too many elected Democrats are doing all the things they’ll to disregard them,” mentioned Carnevale. “As an alternative of respecting the democratic course of, Home Speaker Ron Mariano and his allies are stonewalling Republican efforts to uphold the desire of the voters.”
“That is nothing greater than a legislative energy seize,” Carnevale continued. “The Democrats declare to assist transparency, but at each flip, they block oversight, consolidate their energy, and maintain taxpayers at midnight. What are they so afraid of?”
And why aren’t they afraid of angering the vast majority of voters who need to see them audited? Lawmakers will face re-election sooner or later, how will they spin enjoying keep-away with the Legislature’s books on the marketing campaign path?
The overwhelming “sure” vote on Query 1 was a wake-up name for the Legislature. They hit “snooze” at their very own peril.
