A battle over the facility to audit the Massachusetts Legislature may find yourself earlier than voters in 2024 after Attorney General Andrea Campbell licensed a poll query Wednesday that may grant that authority to the state auditor.
A proposed poll query from State Auditor Diana DiZoglio cleared the preliminary hurdle however whether or not Campbell will approve a parallel request from the Methuen Democrat to pursue authorized motion to pressure the Legislature to open up their books is unclear.
“Our state Legislature is frequently ranked as the least transparent state Legislature in the entire nation — not subject to public records laws, not subject to open meeting laws. For legislative leaders to continue to refuse to cooperate with our office is unacceptable,” DiZoglio instructed the Herald. “Working Families in Massachusetts deserve better. It’s the people’s house, not the politician’s house.”
Both House Speaker Ronald Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka have declined to take part within the audit and have repeatedly stated they don’t imagine DiZoglio has the facility nor precedent to conduct the evaluation.
A Mariano spokesperson declined to touch upon the poll query certification and Senate President Karen Spilka issued a one-line assertion.
“The senate president is thankful to the attorney general and her team for their review of each of the ballot questions before them,” a spokesperson for Spilka stated.
Other than certifying DiZoglio’s poll query, Campbell has not but weighed-in on the request to take the House and Senate to courtroom. The state’s high prosecutor stated such a transfer can be “rare” throughout a radio look final month.
“I just want to stress that this is rare that you have one part of government wanting to sue another or vice versa depending on how this unfolds,” Campbell stated.
DiZoglio stated Wednesday she has not obtained any updates from Campbell nor a timeline for when a choice may very well be made.
“The sooner the better,” DiZolgio stated.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”