Changing The State’s Campaign Finance Laws ~ IN YOUR CORNER with SENATOR DIZOGLIO

December, 2019

Hello Valley Patriot Readers,

“If citizens are not able to gain access to public documents, we cannot claim that there is transparency in government. If we don’t have some kind of penalty, there is no enforcement and people are not going to comply ... This is what I ran on, public accountability, transparency in government; this definitely has to be done.”  ~State Rep. Diana DiZoglio, (D) Methuen
State Senator Diana DiZoglio, (D) Methuen

As your representatives, we legislators have little power to perform effectively on your behalf without maintaining your trust. That’s why I’m so grateful that the state legislature recently bolstered that trust by unanimously passing a bill I sponsored to increase transparency and accountability in our public elections.

To date, the legislature has exempted itself from having to participate in the same campaign finance reporting process that it has imposed on other candidates seeking office. My bill, An Act relative to campaign finance, helps remedy this disparity by requiring that legislative candidates in Massachusetts participate in the same system required of all other state-level candidates – the depository system.

The depository campaign finance reporting system increases accountability by requiring that a candidate or committee file frequent reports disclosing all campaign contribution activity and confirm and supplement the expenditure information reported in bank statements filed monthly by the candidate’s or committee’s financial institution with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF).

Transparency in campaign finance activity is significantly increased when compared with the current, outdated campaign finance reporting requirements for legislative candidates.

This legislation will assist OCPF to more promptly address issues associated with data entry errors, missed deposits, uncashed checks and other account balance issues. The change will also make it easier to see how much money a candidate is raising and spending during the course of the election cycle.

Transparency leads to greater accountability and an increase in voter confidence and trust in public officials. Consistency leads to greater accuracy and efficiency in government operations. These are all goals that legislators should be striving for daily.

I am proud to have filed and passed this important reform to our campaign finance system in the legislature.

If you have any questions about this or any other piece of legislation, please feel free to contact me via email at diana.dizoglio@masenate.gov or phone at (617) 722-1604.
Yours in service,
Diana ◊