All of the essential dynamics of Diana DiZoglio’s insurgent campaign to dig into the doings of the Massachusetts Legislature were captured in miniature over the course of a single day in March.
Following months of an increasingly bitter feud with DiZoglio, Attorney General Andrea Campbell used a live radio interview to signal a new willingness to find a path forward on the long-stalled legislative audit. What looked like an olive branch, however, was met with a blistering reply from DiZoglio, who accused the state’s top law enforcement officer of violating professional ethics standards by simply calling her cell phone.
The bizarre series of events marked the latest turn in the long-running saga, which started with DiZoglio’s campaign promise to audit the Legislature and got more complicated when lawmakers resisted her efforts to follow through on a voter-approved ballot question granting her that authority.The twists and turns can appear inscrutable to anyone without a JD or an addiction to Massachusetts political melodrama. But now, after DiZoglio slammed the door on a potential compromise, it will be up to the state’s ultimate legal arbiters to sort things out.
The Supreme Judicial Court will hear oral arguments next month in a lawsuit DiZoglio filed against House and Senate leaders over their refusal to participate in her audit, a case that quickly morphed into a legal debate about whether she even had the authority to sue without buy-in from Campbell’s office.
Justices will be asked to settle questions about DiZoglio’s legal standing to bring the suit. It’s less clear if they will also wade into the underlying constitutional debate over her office’s ability to probe the workings of another branch of government.
Among lawmakers, views break down along partisan lines. Democrats insist that any audit by DiZoglio — a Democrat who previously served in both the House and Senate, but clashed with her party’s leaders in both chambers in the process — would cross red lines delineating the separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches. Badly outnumbered Republicans support of her effort, either out of a sincere belief in the value of the proposed oversight or as a way to needle the Democratic supermajority, or a bit of both.
As the May 6 court date approaches, the crusading auditor gained at least one Democratic ally under the Golden Dome: Rep. Alan Silvia of Fall River.
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Published by MassINC