04-23
Conservative fiscal watchdog group MassFiscal Alliance has not been kind to Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio. They opposed her election to the legislature and the senate, as well as her successful state-wide run for Auditor last year.
We have been trying to convince the partisans at MassFiscal for years that Diana DiZoglio is the real deal and will expose corruption, even in her own party. They fought us every step of the way, even impugning our conservative bona fides.
But, now Paul Craney and the conservatives at MassFiscal may finally be coming around.
We are glad to see MassFiscal finally starting to look at issues and not party. We look forward to more objectivity from them in the future.
The following is a press release we received from MassFiscal last month.
BOSTON – Following the announcement from the state auditor’s office that they intend to conduct an audit of the Massachusetts legislature, the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance released the following statement in support of the proposal.
“Massachusetts is the only state in the country in which all three branches of our state government—the executive, the judiciary, and the legislature—exempt themselves from public records laws.
By most accounts we have possibly the least transparent state government in the country and it’s a commonly held belief that the legislature is where transparency and good governance principles go to die. If Auditor DiZoglio is actually able to make good on her promise to audit the legislature, it will be a welcomed check on the power of the most opaque state government in the country and a victory for the people of the Commonwealth,” said Paul D. Craney, spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.
The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance also pressed for the Auditor’s office to expand the scope of their audits to include the other two branches of government claiming exemptions, the Governor’s office and the judiciary.
“Before taking office, Governor Healey pledged to do things differently and promised she would not exempt herself from the state public records laws like her predecessors. When this was put to the test by members of the media earlier this year, she failed to deliver on that promise and exempted herself.
As the auditor’s office continues to reassert its power of oversight, they should strongly consider auditing the Governor’s office to see what exactly is so important that forced Governor Healey to completely renege on a campaign promise,” noted Craney. ◊