Mass. AG says auditor can use outside counsel to pursue lawsuit against the Legislature

Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio said she plans to have a former political rival of Attorney General Andrea Campbell represent her in a lawsuit against the Legislature.

DiZoglio said she will continue working with attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan on the audit lawsuit after Campbell said she'd allow the auditor to use outside counsel to press her case.

The Supreme Judicial Court last week gave Campbell 30 days to decide whether or not she would represent DiZoglio in the auditor's pursuit of claims against the Legislature after voters approved a 2024 ballout question authorizing an audit of the legislative body.

Campbell, during an appearance on GBH Radio on Tuesday, said she will shortly send DiZoglio her response, "allowing her to proceed to appoint an attorney to then go into court with respect to those four things, and this will move forward."

For months, Campbell and DiZoglio have been locked in a war of words over whether the AG would represent the auditor's office in court to force the Legislature to accede to an audit. Campbell has said that DiZoglio would not answer her questions on specific elements in her complaint. DiZoglio said she provided the requested information to Campbell.

DiZoglio's suit claims the Legislature failed to respond to four specific requests outlined in a January 2025 memo about the audit.

The four things specifically mentioned in the January 2025 memo and in last week's court hearing were the official budgets for each chamber of the Legislature for fiscal years 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024; copies of official audits of each chamber for the same fiscal years; a listing of all transactions related to each chamber’s balance forward line item for those fiscal years; and a list of all monetary settlement agreements entered into by each chamber with any current or former employees or elected members during the same timeframe.

"The court forced some clarity and specifics that we had been seeking, which was this: these four things, auditor, you can proceed with those, but you have to keep your audit within those four things, which was not something she was willing to say to us initially," Campbell said. "So we're going to move forward. That letter will be coming very soon to the auditor."

The audit law said the auditor "shall audit the accounts, programs, activities and functions directly related to" the Legislature, but top legislative Democrats have resisted, citing constitutional separation of powers concerns.

"We are pleased that the AG has now publicly committed to allowing our office to appoint an attorney of our choosing to represent the will of the People in our pursuit to enforce the legislative audit in court. Attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan did an excellent job representing the 72% before the SJC and we are thrilled to be moving forward with her generous offer to take on this important case," DiZoglio spokesperson Alysha Palumbo Garvin said. "We are cautiously optimistic that this also means the AG will be withdrawing her motion to strike on behalf of the Speaker and Senate President."

Campbell mentioned Liss-Riordan on GBH and said that her appointment to represent DiZoglio would be subject to a "conflict check."

During last week's hearing on Campbell's motion to strike DiZoglio's lawsuit against House Speaker Ronald Mariano, Senate President Karen Spilka, and the House and Senate clerks, justices made clear they wanted to break the logjam between the auditor and AG's offices. Justice Scott Kafker said the two sides were "stuck and not moving, and the people are waiting for an answer."

"Ultimately, you two don't get to decide to leave it in limbo indefinitely, because the people have an interest in having that resolved, and this court ultimately decides whether that's constitutional or not, not you," Kafker said.