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New coalition threatens lawsuit, urges AG Campbell to ‘pick the right side’ in audit fight
A bipartisan group is preparing for litigation if Attorney General Andrea Campbell declines to get involved in a potential legal battle between the Legislature and the State Auditor.
A bipartisan coalition of organizations announced Wednesday that they were prepared to pursue legal action to force lawmakers to comply with State Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s attempt to audit the state Legislature if Attorney General Andrea Campbell does not do so.
Representatives from the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, the Fiscal Alliance Foundation, Act on Mass., the Pioneer Institute, and the Pioneer Public Interest Law Center made the announcement inside the State House Wednesday morning. Their message was simple: the Legislature lacks transparency, and an audit is desperately needed. At the same time, public sentiment is clearly on their side, and it would be an easy win for Campbell to side with DiZoglio and the coalition.
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Last month, 72% of voters got behind Question 1, which sought to explicitly give the State Auditor the power to examine the Legislature. Since then, DiZoglio has sought the cooperation of House and Senate leadership in beginning the audit process, to no avail. DiZoglio asserted that the law would go into effect on Dec. 5, only for Secretary of State Bill Galvin to say instead that it would not go into effect until early January. Legislative leaders are following Galvin’s timeline.
DiZoglio said she is prepared to seek assistance from Campbell if lawmakers do not comply with the new law. Campbell told DiZoglio in late November that litigation was not yet “ripe.” Campbell can decline to pursue litigation, despite pressure from DiZoglio and the coalition. If she does decline, the coalition says it is ready to pursue “any and all legal action, including a lawsuit.”
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But the choice for Campbell should be obvious, Mass. Fiscal Alliance Spokesperson Paul Craney told Boston.com Thursday.
“This doesn’t happen, when you have such a gift for a politician,” he said of Campbell. “You’re not going to have this opportunity probably in your lifetime again. It just won’t happen when you have such a popular referendum passed and you don’t have to do anything to get it passed. All you have to do is just pick the right side. She’s going to look like a hero.”
Last year, Campbell declined to back a potential lawsuit that would have forced the Legislature to comply with an audit, leading DiZoglio and her allies to pursue the ballot measure. She warned at the time that “constitutional limitations [could] affect how the law would apply” if a ballot measure were to pass.
Now that Question 1 passed, Campbell has a decision to make, the coalition and DiZoglio say.
“I’ve asked to litigate repeatedly, last year and this year, and been consistently blocked by the Attorney General’s Office from even accessing a court — which is my constitutional right. I am saddened [that] the AG doesn’t want to help and that outside coalitions have to form and apply pressure [to] get this done,” DiZoglio said in a statement. “Action is absolutely possible and entirely necessary on the part of the AG’s Office. Sorry to have to say that the issue is that the AG does not want to help, not that she can’t.”
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But Campbell said she does not yet have the authority to act and is not giving any indication as to which way she may be leaning.
“The Attorney General respects the will of the voters with regard to Question 1. She does not have the authority to force the implementation of the law unless or until there is a legal dispute between the Auditor and the Legislature that one of the parties wishes to litigate,” a spokesperson for Campbell said in a statement.
The fact that the coalition is made up of groups from across the political spectrum who have all gotten behind the push for an audit speaks to the widespread desire for more transparency, Craney said. The coalition is putting together a “robust” list of potential plaintiffs, and is urging any members of the public who would like to potentially get involved in the litigation to contact the Mass. Fiscal Alliance. The coalition is also consulting with lawyers both in state and out of state to prepare for legal action.
In theory, Craney said, Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano could decide any time to work with DiZoglio. That appears unlikely. Last month, House lawmakers approved a rules change that grants DiZoglio the authority to select a private, external auditing firm to conduct an audit. House rules do not apply to the State Auditor, and DiZoglio said the move was the equivalent of “slapping voters in the face.”
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A spokesperson for Mariano did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Craney said he hopes this process is a wake up call for elected officials.
“The legislative process is completely broken in the State House. It is, there’s no other way to describe it.” he said. “We’re among the most, if not the most, opaque State House in the country. At some point you hit rock bottom. I’m hoping we’re hitting rock bottom right now and the results of the election are a referendum on how people feel about how bad it is.”
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