- The Boston Herald
A showdown brewing since 72% of Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly approved an audit of the Legislature 18 months ago will take center stage in the state’s highest court this week.
The state Supreme Judicial Court is set to hear arguments in Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s legislative audit case against House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka on Wednesday.
After hearing from both sides, justices will decide whether to approve Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which DiZoglio filed in February, and whether the auditor should be allowed to have a special outside lawyer in the case.
Mariano and Spilka have stifled DiZoglio’s efforts to audit the Legislature since over 2.3 million Bay Staters signed off on the auditor’s ballot question in November 2024. The top Beacon Hill Democrats, in partnership with Campbell, argue that the financial review would violate the state constitution.
“Regrettably, nearly a year-and-a-half after the ballot initiative was approved,” DiZoglio wrote in a brief filed with the SJC on April 22, “the People have still not received any answers as to the future of the legislative audit.”
“The reason for this significant delay is the Attorney General,” the auditor added.
A sticking point in the case is how Campbell is representing Mariano and Spilka, a representation that the state auditor has described as “insanity” and goes against the will of the people.
DiZoglio is requesting that the SJC allow her to appoint outside counsel selected by her office to represent it as a “special assistant attorney general.” Shannon Liss-Riordan, who lost against Campbell in a 2022 Democratic primary for AG, would receive the nod if so.
Liss-Riordan is set to deliver the auditor’s arguments in the SJC hearing.
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