Legislative audit push marked by legal maneuvers – Sentinel and Enterprise

With the house preparing for a possible legal battle on question 1, the Auditor Diana Dizoglio is trying to attach a new urgency to her request for months that the attorney general Andrea Campbell intervenes or allows her to find an external lawyer.

Intensifying its Ag, Dizoglio pointed out on Monday that Campbell must finally reveal if he intends to enforce the voter law that allows the auditor’s office to investigate the legislature. If Campbell chooses not to defend the auditor’s office, said Dizoglio, the AG must allow you to find an external legal advisor, an approach that already takes shape in the house while the branch seeks to isolate itself from the probable legal drama.

Dizoglio says that his office lacks the authority to initiate a lawsuit. The president of the House of Representatives, Ron Mariano, and the president of the Senate, Karen Spilka, have resisted the Audit of Dizoglio, warning about the constitutional separation of the problems of power.

“The Attorney General has had time to decide whether he wants to defend people and enforce the law about this, or if he will let our office work to defend people on our own,” Dizoglio told the news service. “It is his decision to make and if he does not want to defend people, of course, he would disappoint me, but ultimately is his decision to make. However, we need to advance here and a decision must be made, in any way. “

Campbell, who voted for question 1, has insisted that his office must follow a process to determine which state agencies represents. The AG, in a radio interview last month, said that its office is evaluating the information that Dizoglio is looking for the legislature and how legislators respond.

That process is underway, the AG office said to the news service on Monday afternoon.

The auditor can hire lawyers without the approval of the AG, said the Campbell office. Campbell would need to approve a hiring made for litigation, said his office.

Even so, Dizoglio emphasized his interest on Monday to appoint a special assistant attorney to handle the legal dispute on the audit if necessary, a measure that requires Campbell’s approval.

“We are wasting a valuable time and we need to be able to name a SAAG, of our choice, to defend people if it is not willing to help, since the legislature builds its case against people at this time,” said the auditor.

Dizoglio said he has received “multiple offers” of interested parties in representing the auditor’s office against the legislature. But Dizoglio indicated that he is in Limbo until Campbell clarifies what his office intends to do.

“People think that our office can sue them on our own, but the AG has to take a position first,” said Dizoglio. “Every day that does not, it is another day that they can prepare to fight people while we hope our Ag intervenes.”

Fearful of possible litigation that surrounds the new Voting Law, the Chamber hired Cek Boston as an external lawyer on January 9, a camera spokesman said at the service of News Sunday. The voting law entered into force on January 3.

Campbell’s office did not advise the Chamber to look for an external lawyer, said a house official. The AG did not instruct any of the branches to seek an external lawyer, the Campbell office later confirmed.

“It is a routine that state agencies retain an external lawyer when they face new law issues,” said the spokesman for the House of Representatives, Max Ratner, in a statement on Monday. “The external lawyer will complement the internal lawyer of the Chamber to ensure that the personnel of the House of Representatives can focus on the legislative session and protect the Commonwealth from the most severe impacts of federal policy decisions. The house will not be distracted from its important work by the search for the auditor of a political audit. “

Almost 72% of voters in November supported question 1 to throw more transparency in Beacon Hill. Mariano and Spilka have promised separately make their work more transparent while they cite concerns about the negative courage of the media and the public perception of the productivity of the legislature.

Mariano’s office did not disclose that the branch retained legal aid until the weekend, after the consultations derived from a report from the Boston non -profit journalism Institute on the request for branch proposals.

CEK Boston is led by former First Assistant Attorney General Thomas Kiley. It also appears as a partner in TSK Associates, led by former Senate president Robert Travaglini.

CEK Boston “provides representation and advice to public officials, government agencies and private entities on all matters involving administrative law and government operations,” according to the firm’s website.

The Senate has not sought a new external legal aid in response to question 1, said Spilka spokesman Gray Milkowski.

“The Senate has not requested new legal relations on this matter,” Milkowski said in a statement. “The Senate lawyer is involved with his existing external lawyer when certain legal issues that require additional experience arise.”

Milkowski did not identify the external lawyer of the lawyer of the Senate, but said that all expenses, including law firms, are publicly available.

Dizoglio, asked that the house retained the external lawyer, described the agreement as, “powerful friends defending the powerful friends of our tax dollars to prevent the public from seeing what is happening behind the curtain.”

“Just another day in Beacon Hill,” he added.

The Business Manager of the House, Colleen McGonagle, opened the public bidding process for legal services in December, with the proposals owed on January 3. The RFP said it has been publicly threatened by numerous parts related to the recently approved initiative request known as Question 1. “

The payments of the house made to CEK Boston will be publicly available on the state platform of financial records, said the Chamber official. The firm has received $ 71,423 in state dollars in fiscal year 2025, including $ 40,920 from the Office of Governor Maura Healey and $ 30,503 of the Norfolk district prosecutor’s office, as shown by state data.

Dizoglio said his office has not requested offers for external legal assistance. He argued that “it is the role of the Attorney General to defend the law and the people.”

“If she refuses to help, we have to get help since the legislature is already preparing the battle against the people who represent at this time,” Dizoglio said.

Paul Craney, who is part of a coalition that threatens to file a lawsuit to force the legislature to comply with question 1, says that the groups are still waiting for Campbell to make a decision.

“All eyes have to be in Campbell right now,” said Craney. “She needs to go out publicly with her position.”

Craney, asked what the coalition could trigger Sue, said he would need to listen to Campbell say that “he is in conflict and the auditor would have his own special attorney general.”

The Senate and the Chamber are taking different tactics to respond to Dizoglio’s investigation. The Senate created a subcommittee, directed by Senator Cindy Friedman, to manage problems around question 1.

The subcommittee and the employees of the Dizoglio office will meet Tuesday to discuss the audit. Dizoglio said he will not attend and affirms that senators want to discuss “why they are violating the law.”

The auditor has requested records of the Legislature, including financial receipts and state contracting and acquisition documents.

“Regardless of what is said at the meeting tomorrow, the Senate and the Chamber remain out of compliance with the law, since it is their refusal to produce documents that are in violation,” said Dizoglio. “Until these financial documents occur, they remain in violation of the law.”