The proposals sparked a heated local debate as sluggish state aid growth and strict limits on local tax increases continue to trap many local governments in a difficult position with few options to manage rising costs.
Diana DiZoglio
Posted inCourts
DiZoglio-Campbell feud hurtles toward Supreme Judicial Court
Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s scorched-earth reply to outreach from Attorney General Andrea Campbell made clear that she sees court as the only venue to resolve her stalled legislative audit. Her team will soon get a chance to pitch the state’s top justices.
Posted inBallot Questions
Mass. Senate asks top state court to examine constitutionality of legislative reform ballot questions
For the first time in a decade, lawmakers exercised their authority to seek an advisory opinion from the state’s highest court, asking justices whether a pair of ballot questions on course to reach voters in November raise constitutional concerns.
Posted inState Government
Mariano weighs in on energy bill savings, audit preferences
“Mariano described the House energy bill as an attempt to strip away some of the public policy charges that have accumulated on electric and gas bills over the last two decades as Massachusetts sought to incentivize a transition away from fossil fuels.”
Posted inBallot Questions
Lawmakers and DiZoglio clash again – this time over public records reform
Auditor Diana DiZoglio showed up ready to fight, and some lawmakers indulged her, at a hearing about a ballot question that would subject the Legislature and governor’s office to the public records law.
Posted inOpinion
DiZoglio’s right to hire a lawyer to push audit case should be clear-cut
It’s one thing for Campbell to take lawmakers’ position in the matter and for her office to represent them; it’s another for her to take the extreme view that the auditor cannot hire her own attorney.
Posted inPolitics
Often at odds, Mariano and Spilka united by ballot question frustration
As the Legislature prepares to review 11 ballot questions with major policymaking implications, the top two Democrats came together to complain that the process is “fraught with peril.”
Posted inState Government
With auditor’s office funding on the line, DiZoglio and Legislature play nice for an hour
A day after Diana DiZoglio sued the Legislature over her stalled audit attempt, both she and lawmakers avoided the topic during a routine budget hearing.
Posted inState Government
Our top five Beacon Hill stories of 2025
The Democrats who control the levers of power in Massachusetts spent most of the year fretting about upheaval from the federal government and preparing for more expansive action down the line.
Posted inHealth Care
State audit claims 2023 maternity unit closure in Leominster was preventable
The issue appears to be a spat about accounting records, but it highlights the struggles health providers had during the height of the first COVID waves, when frontline medical personnel were stretched thin, and how the business of health care has made it increasingly difficult to deliver services like maternity care across the state.
Posted inBallot Questions
Cutting taxes, recriminalizing recreational pot, scrutinizing Beacon Hill: record number of ballot questions in the mix for 2026
Voters could have up to a dozen statewide ballot questions to decide in 2026, ranging from legislative transparency to marijuana policy to gun safety, following the latest big hurdle in the biennial process.
Posted inPublic Records
DiZoglio’s effort to audit the Legislature remains stalled. So she wants voters to change the law, again.
The nascent ballot question campaign seeking to subject the Legislature and the governor’s office to the public records law has a new leader: Auditor Diana DiZoglio, who views the measure as a way to circumvent opposition to her effort to audit the House and Senate.
Posted inOpinion
DiZoglio misfires in attack on attorney general
MASSACHUSETTS STATE AUDITOR Diana DiZoglio recently called in to Boston Public Radio and accused Attorney General Andrea Campbell of “working with the legislative leaders to block the audit that the […]
Posted inOpinion
DiZoglio misses chance to make her case by opting to tweet, not testify, on her quest to audit the Legislature
The Senate subcommittee hearing offers the auditor the opportunity to make the case that her demand of the Legislature is consistent with constitutional principles, but it seems that she has declined to take it.
Posted inHousing
A new wrinkle in MBTA Communities rebellion, courtesy of DiZoglio
Responding to a request from Wrentham officials, Auditor Diana DiZoglio waded into a local battle over the controversial MBTA Communities law, finding that the law is an “unfunded mandate” handed down by state officials.
Posted inOpinion
Question 1 delivered a harsh verdict on the Legislature
Overwhelming public support for Question 1 suggests state legislators may need to do some soul-searching about how to address the public’s concerns about state government.
Posted inBallot Questions
Voters demand audit of Legislature, hurdles remain
In a brief interview on Tuesday night, DiZoglio said she is prepared to take on the Legislature either in court or on Beacon Hill. She said she is enlisting the support of supportive lawmakers to block any action in the Legislature that would undermine Tuesday’s vote. If that fails, DiZoglio said, she is urging the governor to side with the state’s voters.
Posted inBallot Questions
DiZoglio releases audit of Legislature 2 weeks before ballot question vote
Polls indicate DiZoglio’s ballot question is expected to pass overwhelmingly, but any victory is likely only the beginning of a legal struggle over what operations of the Legislature the auditor can audit without infringing on the authority of a separate branch of government.
Posted inState Government
With chance she could be acting governor, DiZoglio drafted order on non-disclosure agreements
“I do not feel that that would have been a way to make meaningful and positive change, positioning the administration to come home to a signed executive order,” she said. “It’s my intention to partner with this administration.”
Posted inState Government
DiZoglio audit finds ‘unlawful practices’ at convention center authority
Most of the issues cited in the report occurred on the watch of a management team headed by David Gibbons and a board dominated by appointees of former governor Charlie Baker.
Posted inState Government
Lawmakers have no love for ballot questions, particularly the one calling for audit of Legislature
Most of the reports recounted familiar arguments and laid out the committee’s position on the issue. The report dealing with state Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s bid for the power to audit the Legislature was more pointed and personal, calling out the auditor for allegedly making misleading statements and showing bias.
Posted inBallot Questions
Lawmakers, academics call DiZoglio ballot question a ‘power grab’
DiZoglio’s supporters come from both the right and left ends of the political spectrum, agreeing with her argument that the Legislature is one of the most opaque operating in the country.
Posted inPolitics
Donors to DiZoglio ballot campaign mostly hail from business sector
The ballot question is championed by state Auditor Diana DiZoglio, who is in effect launching another statewide campaign after jumping from a state Senate seat to the auditor’s office in 2022.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Short takes: A (different) public apology in Stuart case
Four years before Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s public apology over the city’s handling of the Stuart murder case, Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins offered a similar, if little noticed, mea culpa.