Of all the ballot questions that Massachusetts voters are being asked to decide this election season, few are as broadly popular as one that would allow state Auditor Diana DiZoglio to audit her former colleagues in the Legislature.
Seventy percent of respondents to a September WBUR/CommonWealth Beacon poll backed the ballot question.
But senior legislative leaders are pushing back — hard — arguing that the Methuen Democrat, who’s a former lawmaker and onetime legislative staffer, doesn‘t have the authority to force them to crack open their books.
And they’re holding open the possibility of changing the question or even repealing it outright if Bay State voters give it the green light by the time the polls close on Election Day.
A court fight also remains an option.
So what gives?
According to one veteran observer, the fight over the ballot question pits the desire for government transparency against the hard reality of the state Constitution.
And the voters likely will end up the losers.
DiZoglio will “win the pyrrhic victory of the question passing. She will not get increased transparency on the legislative process,“ Jerold Duquette, a Central Connecticut State University political science professor who studies Massachusetts politics, said.
That‘s because no matter how strongly DiZoglio argues to the contrary, the separation of powers in the state’s foundational document is an insurmountable obstacle, Duquette, a critic of the ballot question, said.
“She will never get the authority to get behind the closed doors of the process because that is clearly unconstitutional,” he said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano, D-3rd Norfolk, underlined some already very public opposition to DiZoglio’s ballot question push.
“The Speaker maintains the position that the Auditor lacks the statutory and constitutional authority to audit the Legislature, a separate branch of government,” Mariano spokesperson Ana Vivas said. “Even if Question 1 prevails on Election Day, that will not cure the constitutional defect in the Auditor’s initiative.”
DiZoglio has stumped statewide for the ballot question.
In public appearances and interviews, she’s argued that her push is a nonpartisan one, and that “it’s about us as the people of Massachusetts, regardless of where we stand, about getting information. It’s about how our tax dollars are being spent on Beacon Hill.”
On Tuesday, DiZoglio took her case to GBH News’ “Boston Public Radio” program, telling hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan that lawmakers have stonewalled her efforts, and dismissed what she called a “bogus constitutional argument.”
” … The constitution is there to protect the people, not the politicians,” DiZoglio told Braude and Eagen.
And while that’s a “laudable” goal, it might have the opposite of its intended effect, Duquette told MassLive.
- Read More: Mass. Auditor DiZoglio hits Legislature over transparency, nabbing pushback from lawmakers
“She insists that they [lawmakers] have to be transparent, but that is a political argument,” he said.
“Total transparency benefits special interests more than the average person,” Duquette continued. “The average person won’t look. But when you make it easier to see inside [the process], you create an additional advantage for those with the interest and the resources to look.”
Speaking to WBZ-TV’s “Keller at Large” program in July, Secretary of State Bill Galvin said he believes voters will stick with DiZoglio.
“I’m assuming that it will pass,” he said of the ballot question. “It seems very popular.”
But he predicted the same problems.
“I think the bigger question that she’s going to confront, and I’ve discussed this with the auditor, is the constitutional restrictions on the various sections of our government, the branches of our government,” Galvin told the station. “And that’s where she’s going to probably have a challenge as things go forward.”
One week before Election Day, DiZoglio remained undeterred and undaunted.
“Let me tell you something … Why bother voting? Because democracy is on the ballot. It’s not just on the ballot for this question. It’s on the ballot all the way to the top; [to] this presidential election that we’re in right now,” DiZoglio told GBH News on Tuesday.
“Go vote. Do not let these people try to convince you that your vote doesn‘t count,” she continued, adding that the argument that “‘they‘re just going to overturn it.’ and all these other things — that is an attempt at voter suppression. It’s a backhanded attempt at that.”
Election Day is Nov. 5.
