Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio (D) is targeting legislative leaders and members of her own party regarding alleged fraud.
The auditor is filing a complaint with her state’s Supreme Judicial Court after uncovering almost $12 million alleged fraud in public assistance programs, Fox News reported Sunday.
Her efforts to conduct the audit come after Massachusetts voters made it clear they approved the auditor examining the legislature’s finances, according to WWLP.
DiZoglio is pressing officials for answers, telling Fox, “What are they hiding? If there’s nothing to hide, open up the doors, let the sun shine in. Let’s do this audit.”
DiZoglio also said she informed the legislature about a performance audit, but they refused to hand over the documents needed and she also claimed the attorney general would not take action.
“This is about transparency and accountability. This is not about whether you support the right or the left. This is about coming together and getting access to documents that should be a matter of public record,” she said, adding, “Here in Massachusetts we are only state in the nation that unfortunately has a legislature, governor’s office, and court system that exempt themselves from the state’s public records law.”
In a social media post on Sunday, DiZoglio wrote “The quest for transparency & accountability in state government may have been blocked by @MassAGO but we aren’t giving up the fight.”
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance pointed out that 72 percent of the state’s voters supported the law, but elected officials have “blocked enforcement and tried to keep this issue out of court.”
“It’s time for transparency and accountability. Massachusetts taxpayers deserve to know how their government is spending their money,” the alliance said in the caption of its video:
DiZoglio made it clear to Fox that ending fraud would protect public assistance programs for people who were genuinely in need of help and state services.
In May, DiZoglio alleged Gov. Maura Healey (D) “relied on ‘unlawful’ no-bid contracts — some to political allies — to fund her massive program of free housing for migrants,” Breitbart News reported at the time.
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