Latest news with #DianaDiZoglio
Yahoo
08-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mass. Auditor DiZoglio lawyers up, calls Legislature an ‘authoritarian regime'
After a low-profile couple of months, Massachusetts Auditor Diana DiZoglio reignited her fight with the Legislature on Wednesday, describing the majority-Democrat body as an 'authoritarian regime' as she seeks to force it to open its books. 'We talk about authoritarian regimes in D.C. — what about here on Beacon Hill?' she said during an appearance on GBH's 'Boston Public Radio' program. 'There is an authoritarian regime in the Legislature on Beacon Hill right now.' Lawmakers on Beacon Hill have spent months resisting the Methuen Democrat's efforts to get them to comply with a November 2024 ballot question authorizing her to audit the Legislature. Voters overwhelmingly approved the question, which is now state law. Read More: In testy session, lawmakers, DiZoglio's reps tangle over legislative audit Lawmakers have argued that the audit violates a constitutional separation of powers, and the two sides have spent months duking it out in meetings and in the press. Read More: Mass. Senate throws up roadblock to DiZoglio's audit push In July, DiZoglio did an end-run around state Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell, who typically represents elected officials in court cases, instead hiring the Boston law firm of Donnelly, Conroy & Gelhaar to pursue the matter in court. Michael Minogue, a high-profile Republican donor who also has been mentioned as a 2026 GOP gubernatorial candidate, is footing the bill, according to The Boston Globe. A spokesperson for Campbell told GBH that any potential legal action would be dismissed under state law. That's because 'any lawful litigation brought by state officials or state entities must be authorized by the Attorney General's Office,' Campbell's spokesperson, Sydney Heiberger, told the station. DiZoglio scoffed at the notion. 'It is a dictatorial style of government. It is not democratic. It is, in fact, anti-democratic,' DiZoglio told GBH. 'We're just trying to get before a court right now, and we can't even get our constitutional right to get an impartial hearing recognized by the top law enforcement agency of this commonwealth.' DiZoglio told GBH that the Legislature has refused to ask the state's highest court to delve into the matter, arguing that the No. 1 'goal of everybody involved in this on Beacon Hill is to keep us out of the courtroom so that we can't get a decision so that this will linger on forever.' More on Politics First-time Worcester candidate has raised nearly 50% more than any competitors Legal document shows discord between Harvard and Trump admin amid negotiations 'I see people holding back,' but retailers hope for tax-free boost this weekend This is the most popular person in Trump's administration, Gallup poll says Report: Texas Democrats staying in Illinois evacuated after bomb threat Read the original article on MassLive. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How Beacon Hill bosses quietly buried reform bills that threatened their power
In case you're wondering, in our fractured times, what it takes to get Democrats and Republicans to agree on something, here's your answer. And it's not much: It's just the dire need to fix the famously opaque and almost entirely challenger-proof Massachusetts Legislature. And if you're thinking 'Hey, wait, we live in a blue state that's praised for being a bastion of progressivism. Whaddya mean the Legislature is opaque and uncompetitive?' consider just these three factoids: Ninety-nine percent of incumbents — both state and federal — who ran for reelection in Massachusetts in 2024 kept their jobs, according to an analysis by Ballotpedia. Two-thirds of incumbent state lawmakers ran without opposition during last year's campaign cycle, according to an analysis of state data by Commonwealth Beacon. Also, the state's public records law is among the least transparent in the nation. And efforts to get the majority-Democrat House and Senate to open their books — as state Auditor Diana DiZoglio (also a Democrat) has been experiencing firsthand — are nearly impossible. Enter the Coalition to Reform Our Legislature, a bipartisan coalition of good government advocates that can fit both former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, a Democrat, and state Republican Party Chairperson Amy Carnevale under its big tent. On Tuesday, the group gathered at the Church on the Hill, across the street from the State House, to hold what it described as a 'People's Hearing' to shine a light on a pair of bills calling for reforms that it filed in January and that Beacon Hill's establishment has effectively banished to the Island of Misfit Legislation. 'Both the House and Senate failed to assign the bills to a committee for a hearing and consideration. Unfortunately, it appears our Constitutional rights were reduced to filing a bill in the bottom drawer of a file cabinet in the [House and Senate] clerks' offices,' Peter Enrich, an emeritus law professor at Northeastern University, who sits on the coalition's steering committee, said in a statement. The first of those bills, each of which has companion House and Senate versions, would reform how state lawmakers get paid. State legislators currently get a base pay of $82,000. But those who serve in leadership positions, which is nearly all of them, get thousands of dollars more in stipends tacked onto their salaries. The activist group argued that the current system gives powerful legislative leaders too much control over compensation for rank-and-file legislators, encouraging them to come to heel for better pay. 'In no other state are so many legislators dependent on their chamber leader for a large share of their pay,' Jonathan Hecht, a former lawmaker who represented parts of Watertown and Cambridge in the state House of Representatives, said in that same joint statement. All but 51 of the 200 members of the state House and Senate serve in some kind of leadership position, while legislative leaders control $5 million in taxpayer money to boost their pay, Hecht, who left the House in 2020, said. 'Most of these stipends were created in the last 25 years, and reward little or no work,' he added. The other bill would authorize the creation of independent legislative research and fiscal analysis bureaus — similar to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office — that would provide lawmakers with independent analyses of the blizzard of legislation they're called to vote upon in every two-year session. Advocates argued the bureaus would give lawmakers the tools they need to write bills that are 'based on objective data' instead of relying on special interests. The Legislature used to have such an office, but shuttered it in 1992 in the name of reducing waste, according to State House News Service. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Senate President Karen E. Spilka, D-Middlesex/Norfolk, pointed to efforts the upper chamber has made this year to boost public access and accountability. She specifically pointed to open meetings of a House and Senate conference committee that's still trying — more than four months into the current session — to get a deal on the joint rules that smooth the flow of legislation between the two chambers. She also pointed to the public posting of votes on the Senate clerk's website. " So we are working really hard," the Ashland Democrat said. But Spilka was noncommittal when she was asked about the proposals offered by those good government advocates. " We'll take a look at it," she said. A spokesperson for state House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano, D-3rd Norfolk, did not respond to MassLive's request for comment. The way the advocates see it, meanwhile, the need for reform remains urgent and long overdue. 'One of the questions that we are considering is whether to take one of these, one or both of these issues to the ballot,' Jay Kaufman, a former lawmaker, told State House News Service. 'There's some significant consequences to doing that, but we're actively weighing it.' He joked that he expects they'd 'get the same 72% that the auditor got last year, and the same greeting across the street,' referring to DiZoglio's successful push to audit the state Legislature. Eight months after voters overwhelmingly approved that ballot measure, DiZoglio is still no closer to auditing her former colleagues. Markey Warns: Rural health crisis looms if Big Beautiful Bill passes | Bay State Briefing Troops in the Streets, Questions in Congress: Mass. reckons with role of military in civil society Mass. governor's race intensifies as GOP candidates seize on LA protests | John L. Micek Read the original article on MassLive.
Boston Globe
06-06-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Towns lose their latest challenge to controversial state housing law
'The Municipalities have neither pled specific costs for anticipated infrastructure costs, nor provided any specific timeline for anticipated construction projects,' Gildea wrote in the ruling. 'Instead, the only allegations and averments before the court are generalized comments about large-scale issues they forsee, which are insufficient to sustain the Municipalities' claims.' The ruling is the latest legal blow to towns that have sought to avoid passing new zoning rules under the four-year-old MBTA Communities Act. Advertisement Last year, the Supreme Judicial Court The suits Gildea dismissed Friday were filed after State Auditor Diana DiZoglio's office Advertisement Gildea rejected that opinion in his ruling. He also said towns had misinterpreted the auditor's opinion by making broad claims about infrastructure costs under the law, when the opinion instead focused on the administrative costs associated with designing and passing new zoning rules. 'We are pleased the courts have again affirmed the intent of the MBTA Communities Law, and we look forward to working with the remaining communities to complete their zoning changes,' Housing Secretary Ed Augustus said in a statement Friday. Of 177 municipalities covered by the law, 134 have now passed new multifamily zoning, and more than 4,000 units of housing are in the development pipeline in those districts, state officials said. Housing advocates — who view MBTA Communities as one of the state's more consequential housing laws of the last several decades — celebrated the ruling Friday, saying it clears the path for the law to move forward. 'Today's ruling is a great victory for all Massachusetts residents, but particularly the communities of color and low-income individuals hardest hit by the affordable housing crisis,' said Jacob Love, Senior Attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights, a legal advocacy groups that has sued towns for defying MBTA Communities. 'Increasing multi-family housing stock is critical to advancing fair housing in the Commonwealth and this decision preserves one of the most important tools we have in the fight for housing equity.' Andrew Brinker can be reached at
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Brickbat: Friends in High Places
Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio reports that Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, mishandled the state's emergency shelter system by approving "improper and unlawful" no-bid contracts for food and transportation services, costing taxpayers millions. Some of the contracts went to Healey's campaign donors. DiZoglio's audit criticizes Healey for not using competitive bidding, leading to overpayments, while highlighting a lack of transparency and oversight in the program. Healey's team says the contracts were necessary due to an unexpected surge in migrant and homeless families. The post Brickbat: Friends in High Places appeared first on
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Unlawful contracts, overpaid for services: 4 takeaways from the audit of state's emergency shelter system
The state's housing division failed to properly manage and oversee its emergency shelter program while it experienced record-high demand in recent years, according to analysts in State Auditor Diana DiZoglio's office. Beginning in December 2022, the state's Emergency Assistance shelter network began to see skyrocketing numbers of families seeking housing. To keep up with the demand, the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (ELHOC) — and its precursor under former Gov. Charlie Baker, the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development — placed hundreds of families temporarily in hotels and motels around the state. However, according to the 74-page audit report released earlier this week, state officials signed 'unlawful' emergency contracts with some service providers and failed to adequately oversee and document their agreements with others. The report did not include an overall amount of money that was wasted due to the lack of contract and program oversight. Below are four main takeaways from the auditor's report: Two of the many contracts EOHLC issued to keep up with the shelter demand did not follow the procurement process required for state agencies. Though EOHLC argued that it was justified in signing these contracts because of the emergency situation, the State Auditor's Office disagreed. Typically, state agencies are required to solicit bids from prospective contractors to keep contracts fair and reasonably priced. However, if the delays from this process would cause unnecessary harm, they are able to sign short-term agreements while the proper process is followed. The auditors wrote in their report that EOHLC should have been able to foresee the incoming stress on the system and prepared accordingly before emergency measures became necessary. 'This would have allowed for competition among vendors with improved pricing, terms and fairness,' the report says. 'Emergency contracting is designed to 'buy time' to conduct a fair, legitimate procurement process under normal procurement rules. This did not occur.' In addition, the auditors wrote, the emergency contracts lasted for too long, and should have gone for 'weeks, not several months.' One of the contracts at issue was with East Boston-based Spinelli Ravioli Manufacturing Co. for food delivery to hotels and motels being used as shelters that did not have culinary facilities. The other contract that the SAO deemed improper was with Mercedes Car Company, now known as Pilgrim Transit, which offered transportation to shelter residents for necessary travel to destinations such as medical appointments. The housing agency vehemently disagreed with these findings, with Secretary Ed Augustus writing in an official response letter that the analysis was 'fundamentally wrong and unfounded.' EOHLC signed two other emergency contracts in 2023, with Ascentria Community Services and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay; though the report mentioned these two contracts, it did not list any issues with them. One of the main concerns of the report was that EOHLC's procedures may have led to unnecessary costs, due to both a failure to search for cheaper options and simple administrative errors and oversight. For the food contract with Spinelli, the auditors wrote that the catering company had initially offered a payment option that would have been a flat fee for the services they would provide, but that EOHLC had not inquired further about what this flat fee would be. The agency also could have considered contracting with multiple food providers around the state to decrease delivery costs, rather than having all meals come from the East Boston facility, they wrote. Auditor analysts also took issue with the costs of the deal with Mercedes Car Company, comparing the trip fees to standard taxi rates listed on the Boston Police Department website. A taxi rider would pay $2.60 for the first one-seventh of a mile, then 40 cents per mile afterward. In contrast, trips with the car company had a base fee of $140 for the first person and $40 for each additional person, and $498 for the first person in a wheelchair van. 'The transportation service fees ... are considerably higher than the typical rates observed in the taxicab or ride-sharing industry. In fact, they align more closely with the pricing structures of executive car services,' the report says. In one instance, the state was billed $140 for a trip that lasted 223 feet within a single parking lot. They also noted that EOHLC could have worked with the MBTA or regional transit authorities to provide transportation at a lower cost. However, the report determined that it was impossible to know how much money the agency could have saved if it had not signed the emergency contracts, because EOHLC did not take the time to find out. In addition, the audit revealed that the state was overcharged for 9.6% of food deliveries from Spinelli, for a total overcharge of $4,136 (This was offset, however, by additional deliveries where the state was undercharged, for a net overcharge of $2,306). The overcharges were due to inadequate oversight of invoices the agency received, the auditors wrote. EOHLC disagreed with these findings, saying that the report left out relevant context. In particular, for the transportation contract, the agency said it needed very specialized services, but also encouraged shelter residents to use public transportation when and where possible. The transportation service needed to be available on demand with short notice, able to travel to locations not near public transit, and able to accommodate people with disabilities and families with small children requiring booster seats. Augustus noted that when EOHLC did solicit bids for competitive transportation contracts, they received no 'satisfactory' proposals. 'The lack of satisfactory bids received in response to our competitive procurement speaks volumes to the extremely unique and challenging nature of this service,' he wrote. As for the overcharges, he argued that with a nearly $10 million contract, the $2,306 in net overcharges was just 0.02% of the total. Nearly all of the report's findings dealt, directly or indirectly, with a lack of documentation for decisions EOHLC made when administering the emergency assistance program. For the emergency contracts, the agency did not sufficiently document how it made the decisions to hire those companies, the report said. EOHLC also did not have documentation of subcontractors that worked with some of their contracted service providers, and for some charges for various services that the auditors questioned, the agency could not provide documentation to verify them. 'Without proper records, EOHLC cannot verify whether services were provided according to contractual terms, nor can it ensure that payments were appropriate and aligned with the agreed-upon budgets,' the report says. 'It increases the risk of improper use of public funds and a lack of accountability for the services provided.' EOHLC acknowledged that it could have done more to keep up its documentation, and Augustus wrote that the agency was already 'committed' to updating its policies to do so in the future. EOHLC wrote in its official response to the report that it had already updated its invoice review process to increase oversight of payments to vendors, one of several changes the agency has made since the audit period. It has also clarified some of its policies on how funding is used and restructured its shelter diversion program to have unique contracts for a 'more streamlined process.' Beyond internal policies, however, Augustus said the state has made a number of changes to the shelter program, introducing a maximum number of families that can be served, new eligibility requirements and a cap on the length of time a family can stay in a shelter. This has resulted in fewer families staying in shelters and lower costs. Gov. Maura Healey announced the day before the audit report was released that all hotel and motel shelters would be closed by summer. As a result of these and other changes implemented by Healey, for the first time since July 2023, the number of families in shelters has fallen back below 5,000, Augustus wrote. 'These all represent significant progress toward establishing a Right to Shelter system for families where stays are rare, brief, and non-recurring, and costs are financially sustainable to the Commonwealth,' he added. DiZoglio's office will review EOHLC's progress in six months, according to the typical audit process, according to the report. Closing hotel shelters has benefits but could leave families with no place to go Audit: Mass. housing office mishandled emergency shelter contracts Broken brokers' fees: Mass. lawmakers try again for a fix | Bay State Briefing Springfield housing advocates praise new law that seals eviction records Read the original article on MassLive.
