Massachusetts AG representing lawmakers against DiZoglio in audit lawsuit: 'Insanity'

BOSTON — The Massachusetts AG’s office is representing House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka as they look to dismiss Diana DiZoglio’s lawsuit against them, a move that the state auditor describes as “insanity.”

DiZoglio is speaking out after the Attorney General’s Office wrote letters to the state Supreme Judicial Court “on behalf of” the top Beacon Hill lawmakers, requesting dismissal of the lawsuit amid the auditor’s fight to enforce the voter-approved audit of the Legislature.

AG Andrea Campbell has also filed a “motion to strike” the complaint, which DiZoglio filed against the Legislature last week, escalating the feud that has rattled Beacon Hill since November 2024, when 72% of voters approved the audit.

DiZoglio, a Democrat seeking reelection, has called out the AG’s office, posting on social media a copy of a letter that Assistant Attorney General Anne Sterman wrote to the SJC on Thursday, “on behalf of” Mariano.

“Can’t make it up,” the auditor stated on Friday. “The AG still claims she supports the audit. Please believe your own eyes. Her office is representing the Speaker, not us.”

In the request for the state’s highest court to dismiss the lawsuit, Sterman wrote: “The House concurs with the arguments set forth by the Attorney General in her Motion to Strike, and … does not believe this matter is appropriately before the court.”

The AG’s Office confirmed to The Boston Herald that it also sent a letter to the state’s highest court requesting the same “on behalf of” Spilka. It added that per state law and “long-standing legal precedent,” the AG is the “only official authorized to represent state agencies and officials in court and initiate lawsuits like the one the Auditor has filed.”

“The AGO remains ready to move this issue forward,” the office said, “but any lawsuit filed by a state agency or official must follow these requirements set forth in the state constitution.”

In response to a comment on her X post, DiZoglio said she’s “not surprised at all” that the AG is “defending the Speaker.” Rather, the auditor slammed Campbell for previously highlighting her efforts in voting for the audit.

“I am surprised anyone in their right mind allows her to state that she supports the audit and just needs more info. No,” DiZoglio stated of the AG. “She’s legit working against the case on behalf of the Speaker in plain print. Insanity.”

In her lawsuit, DiZoglio asks the SJC to force Mariano, Spilka and the clerks of both legislative branches to turn over previous financial audits, settlement agreements, budgets and monetary transactions

The auditor also requests that the SJC allow her to appoint outside counsel selected by her office to represent them 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.

“We are being blocked from the courts by a hostile Attorney General whose office is fighting against us, quite literally, on behalf of the Speaker,” DiZoglio said in a statement shared with the Herald Friday evening. “The AG has a duty to act in the public interest but instead acted in the Speaker’s interest.”

The AG’s office told the Herald that DiZoglio “must answer the questions” that it has “repeatedly asked her” for it to authorize the lawsuit and Liss-Riordan’s appointment as special assistant attorney general.

The office says some of the questions DiZoglio has failed to answer include to what extent she believes the state constitution limits her authority to audit the Legislature, and to what extent the auditor attempted to negotiate with the Legislature before initiating litigation.

“These are the types of questions that every other state official and state agency answer in the usual course when they seek to litigate,” the AG’s office said. “The answer to these questions is critical.”

“Unless the AGO knows the Auditor’s position on whether constitutional limitations apply,” it added, “it cannot decide whether to represent her, file separately, or represent the Legislature.”

The office argues that DiZoglio also failed to “assert a legal claim” in filing the lawsuit.

“By statute, the Attorney General is a gatekeeper empowered to determine when, if ever, the Commonwealth’s intragovernmental legal disputes require judicial resolution,” Campbell wrote in her motion to strike. “There would be no gate at all were mere disagreement with the Attorney General sufficient basis for a dissenting state official to initiate a lawsuit.”

Mariano has declined to comment on the lawsuit, referring the Herald to his past statements regarding the legislative audit. The House Speaker suggested last March that DiZoglio was making the audit “personal.”

“We have dealt with the personal attacks and the tweets and the comments,” Mariano said when asked if DiZoglio should recuse herself from any legislative audits.

DiZoglio has argued that her status as an elected official provides enough protection for an independent probe. Democratic lawmakers, though, counter that the audit violates the state constitution’s separation of powers.

“72% of the voters mandated the audit law,” DiZoglio said in her statement shared with the Herald, “and the courts need to settle this matter. The people deserve an answer. By opposing the public interest on this matter, AG Campbell has abdicated her responsibility as our chief law enforcement officer. We are absolutely going to fight her attempt to block us.”