Attorney General Andrea Campbell has asked the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) to dismiss a lawsuit filed by State Auditor Diana DiZoglio, escalating a dispute over the auditor’s attempt to access internal documents from the state legislature. The filing, made Thursday, alleges DiZoglio bypassed established legal procedures when she directly petitioned the SJC last week to compel the House and Senate to provide records for an ongoing audit.
DiZoglio initiated the lawsuit seeking to force the House and Senate to turn over budgetary, hiring, spending and procurement information, as well as details regarding active and pending legislation and the appointment process for legislative staff. The move follows a 2024 ballot question approved by Massachusetts voters granting DiZoglio the authority to audit the legislature, an effort that has been met with resistance from lawmakers.
Campbell’s court filing asserts her office is the “gatekeeper” for legal disputes involving state government entities, and that DiZoglio’s direct appeal to the SJC violated “settled law.” According to Campbell, allowing state officials to independently pursue litigation without the Attorney General’s approval would create “a babel of voices with competing interests” and undermine the Commonwealth’s unified legal position. She argued that the auditor’s office has not adequately justified the scope of the audit or the legal basis for demanding the records.
DiZoglio has repeatedly requested Campbell’s approval to sue the legislature or to appoint a special assistant attorney general to pursue the case. She has accused Campbell of obstructing her audit, claiming the Attorney General’s “repeated questions and irrelevant hypotheticals effectively obstructed” the auditor’s office’s ability to obtain documents. In her complaint, DiZoglio characterized Campbell’s actions as “arbitrary and capricious.”
The lawsuit names House Speaker Ron Mariano, Senate President Karen Spilka, and the clerks of both legislative branches as defendants. DiZoglio is seeking a court order compelling them to produce a range of documents, including budgets, financial audits, monetary transactions, and settlement agreements. She has also requested the SJC appoint Shannon Liss-Riordan, a labor attorney who unsuccessfully ran against Campbell in the 2022 Democratic primary for Attorney General, as a special assistant attorney general to oversee further legal action.
Andrew Carden, DiZoglio’s director of operations, stated the Auditor’s Office was “not at all surprised” by Campbell’s attempt to dismiss the case. He expressed hope that the SJC would “stand with the 72% of people who passed this issue into law” by allowing Liss-Riordan to represent the auditor’s office.
Campbell, in her filing, maintained her office has consistently informed DiZoglio that litigation may be necessary, but emphasized the importance of a “well considered” approach with a “complete distillation of the underlying issues” and as a “last resort.” She characterized the auditor’s actions as “political theater.”
