To audit Legislature, DiZoglio maintains push to hire lawyers funded by GOP candidate

Local News

Republican candidate Mike Minogue has offered to pay for the attorneys. Auditor Diana DiZoglio is asking Attorney General Andrea Campbell to sign off on the arrangement.

State Auditor Diana DiZoglio, a Democrat, is asking Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office to allow her to hire outside counsel to help her conduct an audit of the State Legislature. Those lawyers could be paid for by a seemingly unlikely source: Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue. 

In 2024, close to 72% of Massachusetts voters approved of a ballot measure specifying that the state auditor has the authority to audit the Legislature. DiZoglio has gone all-in on the issue, frequently calling out leaders on Beacon Hill for not cooperating. Democratic leaders within the Legislature have raised concerns that the audit DiZoglio is trying to conduct could violate state law regarding the separation of powers. 

DiZoglio wants to sue legislative leaders to force their compliance. Campbell has declined to get involved in any legal action and has called on DiZoglio’s office to provide more information about the specifics of an audit. DiZoglio maintains that Campbell is “gaslighting” the public and that her office has given Campbell’s all the information it has asked for. 

Last summer, DiZoglio’s office retained the law firm Donnelly, Conroy & Gelhaar to potentially represent it in its lawsuit. Any lawful litigation brought by state officials must be authorized by Campbell’s office, it said. Campbell told WBUR in November that DiZoglio’s “privately funded legal arrangement also raises significant legal and ethical questions.”

Campbell appeared on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio” on Jan. 13, calling for DiZoglio to end the standoff between their two offices. She said that the issue is not “personal” and that there is no “animosity” between the two of them, but reiterated her frustrations.

“The only agency or constitutional office we have had any issue with since I’ve taken office is the auditor. And it’s not for lack of trying,” Campbell said. 

‘Special Assistant Attorneys General’

The solution, according to Campbell, is for DiZoglio to have her outside attorneys appointed as “Special Assistant Attorneys General” that can pursue litigation against the Legislature. 

DiZoglio’s office sent a letter to Campbell’s last week, formally requesting that three attorneys from Donnelly, Conroy & Gelhaar be appointed as SAAG. She is hoping to bring a complaint against Senate President Karen Spilka, House Speaker Ron Mariano, and the clerks of both chambers in order to compel them to produce records for the audit. 

In that letter, DiZoglio’s office cited guidance from the State Ethics Commission saying that attorneys appointed as SAAG can be paid by Minogue as long as they comply with the state’s rules of professional conduct. 

Minogue, a former biotechnology executive and a prominent GOP donor, launched his gubernatorial campaign last October. He is jockeying with two former Baker administration officials, Mike Kennealy and Brian Shortsleeve, for the chance to take on Gov. Maura Healey in the general election later this year.

Minogue is pitching himself as a more independent voice within the Republican primary, saying recently that he does not identify with either major party. As part of that electoral strategy, Minogue is making his support for an audit of the Legislature a major component of his platform.

He reached out to DiZoglio’s office as a “concerned citizen” last year before launching his campaign and offered to pay for outside counsel. 

This was unsolicited, DiZoglio said recently during her own appearance on GBH. 

“I said, ‘Thank you, we appreciate you saving taxpayer dollars,’” DiZoglio said of her interaction with Minogue. 

A spokesperson for Minogue’s campaign said that he also helped find lawyers that would be right for this work. 

“Before he launched his campaign for governor, Mike Minogue identified and vetted a lawyer that would be willing to take this on and offered financial support in his capacity as a concerned citizen,” the spokesperson said in a statement to Boston.com. “Seventy-two percent of Massachusetts voters demanded transparency and accountability from state government. Mike believes the will of the voters should not be optional, and he stepped up to ensure the audit the people voted for finally gets done.”

In the letter concerning the appointment of outside counsel as SAAG and Minogue’s payment for them, DiZoglio’s office asked that Campbell’s office respond by Jan. 30. It is unclear if Campbell’s office has done so. Spokespeople for Campbell did not return a request for comment Monday. 

If Campbell disagrees with the assessment that Minogue can pay for these attorneys, “she’s welcome to file an ethics complaint against our office and see where that goes,” DiZoglio said on GBH. 

Healey stays out of it

Healey, herself a former attorney general, has so far attempted to stay out of the fray. There appears to be a chilly relationship between the governor and the auditor.

DiZoglio said that she had not spoken to Healey about “official business” in about a year, and that Healey has not offered to get involved in the dispute between DiZoglio and Campbell. 

Even if Campbell’s office does approve of the SAAG appointments and Minogue’s payments, she could still go to bat for the Legislature in the ensuing legal battle over the actual audit. 

“There is a very real possibility that [Campbell’s office] will represent [the Legislature] against [DiZoglio’s office],” the letter from officials within the auditor’s office said.