Massachusetts House leaders are attempting to chart a path forward on a pair of overlapping transparency fights. In the process, they seem to have set off an even greater conflagration.
House Democrats on Thursday pushed through a bill that would permanently constrain the power voters awarded the state auditor, by ballot measure, to probe the Legislature. It would also make some legislative records — but not lawmakers’ correspondence— publicly available.
They pitched the measure as a constitutionally sound solution and a way to avert a more politically bruising ballot question fight this fall. In a rare speech from the House floor, Speaker Ron Mariano said the bill would “demonstrate to the public what we already know to be true: this is an institution full of hard-working public servants who go above and beyond to ensure that every taxpayer dollar is spent responsibly.”
But the vote drew condemnation from both GOP lawmakers and from legislative skeptics campaigning to wrench open the curtain around Beacon Hill. Rep. Michael Soter, a Bellingham Republican, called the bill “a shield disguised as a window.”
“This is, to me, kind of like a shit sandwich with extra pickles,” House Minority Leader Brad Jones told CommonWealth Beacon.
The fast-moving legislation is far from the final word on either Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s crusade to examine the Legislature or the campaign to subject lawmakers and the governor’s office to the public records law through a ballot initiative this year.
DiZoglio was incandescent with her criticism, posting a 10-minute video to social media in which she contended the bill “essentially negates” the 2024 voter-approved law empowering her legislative audit.
“With this proposed bill, and under the guise of transparency, your state representatives are not only throwing the 72 percent voter-mandated law in the dumpster,” DiZoglio said, referring to margin of support for the ballot law. “They’re taking a match and lighting that dumpster on fire.”
It’s also unclear if the Senate will jump on board with the reforms. Last week, Senate Democrats voted to release some documents to DiZoglio while emphasizing their ongoing right to refuse any future requests she might make — a maneuver that, despite also drawing the auditor’s criticism, is fundamentally different than the House’s push to change the law.
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Published by MassINC