Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio, a Democrat, is suing the state’s legislative leaders after they refused to cooperate with an audit that voters approved overwhelmingly in 2024.
DiZoglio filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to enforce a ballot measure that passed with 72% support, granting her office authority to audit the legislature. The state’s attorney general has also declined to assist. The lawsuit names House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka, both Democrats, as defendants. (RELATED: Ivy League Faculty, Students Lose It After Discovering ICE Campus Recruitment Event)
The lawsuit follows her office’s finding that nearly $12 million in fraud plagued public assistance programs in fiscal year 2025 alone. The legislative audit DiZoglio is seeking — separate from her fraud investigations — would examine lawmakers’ own budgets, spending and internal procedures.
“What are they hiding?” DiZoglio, a former state representative and senator, said on “Saturday in America,” a Fox News program. “If there’s nothing to hide, open up the doors, let the sun shine in.”
She argued the audit would bring transparency across party lines while protecting the people who actually depend on these programs.
“We need to root out that waste, fraud and abuse so that these systems are working as they should and people truly in need get these services,” she said.
This is the People’s House, not the politicians’ House. Yesterday my office filed a lawsuit seeking to audit the MA Legislature. We hope the SJC stands with the People of the Commonwealth #mapoli pic.twitter.com/ztBprNHhM3
— Diana DiZoglio (@massauditor) February 11, 2026
DiZoglio noted that Massachusetts is the only state exempting its legislature, governor’s office, and court system from public records law.
Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell refused to represent DiZoglio in the suit, calling her filing a “ploy” to sidestep the attorney general’s approval. Campbell argued DiZoglio lacks the authority to bring the case and that the audit would violate the legislature’s constitutional privileges, according to GBH News.
“The Constitution is there to protect the people, not the politicians,” DiZoglio retorted.
The legislature’s top Republicans — Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr and House Minority Leader Bradley Jones Jr. — did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment on whether they plan to cooperate with the audit.
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