DEMOCRATIC GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE Jay Gonzalez on Wednesday accused the State Police of attempting to cover up corruption within the agency by destroying payroll and attendance records and urged the inspector general to investigate.

“This takes this scandal to a whole different level,” Gonzalez said at a press conference in front of the State House. He held his Republican rival, Gov. Charlie Baker, responsible.

“This is a management failure of epic proportions,” Gonzalez said. “Enough is enough. The governor needs to take charge.”

Gonzalez pounced on news reports indicating that State Police officials had sought permission to destroy boxes and boxes of employee payroll, attendance, and benefits records. The request was put on hold by a Records Conservation Board.

Baker said the records should not have been designated for destruction. “It’s my understanding that based on all the existing protocols, what the State Police proposed to do fit within those protocols,” Baker told reporters at a Wednesday morning event. “But the simple truth of the matter is, they shouldn’t be destroying any payroll records and they won’t be.”

David Procopio, a spokesman for the State Police, took a similar tack in an email to CommonWealth on Tuesday.  “The recent requests made to the board are in compliance with the [secretary of state’s] retention schedule and the records, due to their age, are not currently the subject of any outside investigation or audit,” he said. “None of the records in question have been destroyed and in light of current ongoing investigations pertaining to similar records, the State Police will retain past payroll records until further notice.”