Auditor once again wades into Beacon Hill battles

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Auditor Diana DiZoglio, who carved out a reputation for being unavoidable for comment on Beacon Hill, has kept her head down lately, focusing on the bean-counting part of her job more than the bomb-tossing.

A report on the state’s Mass Save energy program, and audits of the Cannabis Control Commission and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, are expected out soon.

But DiZoglio returned to form on Wednesday, appearing on GBH News’s “Boston Public Radio” hours after the Boston Globe reported she was hiring an outside law firm, funded by GOP donor Michael Minogue, to represent her office in court as she seeks to fully audit the state Legislature. House and Senate leaders have argued such an audit is a violation of the state constitution’s separation of powers.

DiZoglio laid blame for the hiring of the law firm on Attorney General Andrea Campbell, whose sign-off she needs to sue the Legislature. “She’s not going to represent us. I think we’ve just got to move forward,” DiZoglio told GBH News.

Earlier in the day, after the Globe published its story, her office heard from Campbell’s office for the first time in months, reiterating they had outstanding questions and haven’t made a decision on whether DiZoglio can sue. "This is dragging this out way too long," DiZoglio said.

A Campbell spokesperson told MASSterList any “unauthorized litigation” from DiZoglio “will be dismissed immediately.”

DiZoglio has a back-up plan: She’s throwing her support to a 2026 ballot question proposal that would place the Legislature, and the governor’s office, under the state’s public records laws.

The proposal is pushed by a coalition that includes Danielle Allen, a Harvard professor and former 2022 gubernatorial candidate. Allen is also pressing for a ballot question that would eliminate partisan primaries in Massachusetts politics, instead placing the top primary two finishers into a final election regardless of party. 

DiZoglio said she is “very likely” to support that ballot question, too. “I just need to review the language fully and make sure I'm properly vetting it,” she told MASSterList in an interview.

As for her own 2026 plans, that’s a bomb still waiting to be lit. She said Wednesday she is focused on getting through her office’s audits. “I have no intentions of running for governor,” she said. “People have said, ‘Well, you haven't said you're not running for governor.’ I'm not running for governor.”

Her supporters have encouraged her to pursue “different candidacies,” and “I have reiterated to them that I'm 100% focused on doing my job right now, and this is not an election year,” she said. “But as the election year approaches, we'll have these discussions.”

Are you one of the folks who are encouraging DiZoglio to run for a different office? Drop me a line and let me know which one and when: [email protected].

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10:00 | Attorney General Andrea Campbell's office holds a public hearing on a regulation that eyes reporting requirements for shared appreciation mortgage entities, disclosure requirements to protect borrowers, and outlines "prohibited acts and practices." Campbell previously tussled with Gov. Maura Healey and the Legislature over a law that effectively protected BlueHub Capital, which has faced allegations of misleading homeowners into shared appreciation mortgages. | 21st floor, 1 Ashburton Place, Conference Room 3, Boston | More info

12:00 | Gov. Healey signs an updated shield law that strengthens “protections for health care providers and patients” seeking transgender and reproductive care, her office said. | Grand Staircase, State House, Boston

5:00 | U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley participates in a fireside chat with Rev. Al Sharpton and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) about "the power of joy as a political act, cultural anchor, and driving force behind justice" as part of the Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival. | Oak Bluffs | More info

Nineteen groups came up with 47 initiative petitions and on Wednesday filed them with the attorney general’s office for a review of their constitutionality. They include 42 proposed laws for the 2026 ballot, and five proposed constitutional amendments for 2028.

If there was an emergent theme among a large number of them, there is wide interest among activists and others in flipping off state lawmakers. Should the 2026 ballot campaigns jump over all the hurdles, voters will be able to make changes to legislative stipends, inject competition into elections through all-party primaries, or overrule the Legislature’s inactions on a raft of policy matters. – State House News Service

Top pollster Steve Koczela landed in Kenya this week. The president of the MassINC Polling Group (MPG), which was founded in 2010 and operates as a for-profit subsidiary of nonprofit MassINC, is spending a year in Nairobi with his family. According to MassINC, he’ll be working a reduced schedule, while Richard Parr handles the polling outfit’s day-to-day operations. Parr, who joined MPG in 2013, was also promoted to vice president. A Wakefield native, Parr previously worked as policy director for the nonprofit A Better City and produced content for the PBS show Frontline….

….Paige Scott Reed has returned to law firm Prince Lobel as a partner after leaving Gov. Maura Healey’s administration in May. Scott Reed, who was one of Healey’s first appointments in Dec. 2022, was replaced as chief legal counsel by Jesse Boodoo. Prince Lobel credited her with handling the aftermath of Steward Health Care’s collapse and moving Healey’s judicial nominees into judgeships (more than 60 overall, including two Supreme Judicial Court justices). She’ll now be part of a practice “focused on solving difficult transactional and litigation challenges for public officials, corporate executives, boards of directors, and technology innovators,” the law firm said in a release. She previously worked in its employment law and litigation practice groups….

…The super PAC supporting Josh Kraft in the Boston mayoral election has pulled in another $115,000, with most of it coming from Michael Gordon, the Fenway Sports Group president. The super PAC, Your City Your Future, also continues to spend heavily on social media and streaming ads, using the same advertising firm, Technicolor Political, as the Kraft campaign. The super PAC’s ads are also apparently drawing from Kraft campaign materials. If you scroll down to the very bottom of the Kraft campaign’s official “Clips” page, you’ll find an odd six-minute YouTube video. Most of it doesn’t have any sound, just rolling images of Kraft talking to people. But several scenes from that video appear in the super PAC’s Facebook and Instagram ads taking aim at Michelle Wu. A super PAC spokesperson said they are in compliance with campaign finance law that prohibits coordination with Kraft, and noted that state statute allows “the use of photographs or video from sources in the public domain such as websites or social media.”

Two corrections from yesterday’s edition: First, the audit-the-legislature question passed in 2024, not 2022. Second, we also had an incorrect stat in one of the items: The city of Worcester saw overdose deaths fall to just 13 through April 2025.  We regret the errors.

HOSPITAL COSTS: New data show the most expensive hospitals in Massachusetts, primarily academic medical centers, which are 12% more expensive than the statewide average for acute-care hospitals. — Boston Business Journal

TAX-FREE WEEKEND: Retailers are hoping for a boost out of the coming sales tax-free weekend, but are concerned that consumers will still hold back on purchases amid economic uncertainty. – MassLive

DISRUPTION WARNING: State officials are warning the termination of legal status known as TPS for Haitians that allowed them to enter the workforce could disrupt health care facilities that rely on them as employees. — WBUR

ENROLLMENT WOES: Faculty cuts are on tap at Worcester’s Clark University, which is bracing for a drop in international student enrollment, due to visa delays and a dimming view of the U.S. as an academic destination. – GBH News

SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH: A superintendent search is roiling Cambridge’s school committee, which is reacting to criticism that the process was “secretive and scattered.” — Cambridge Day

TICK VIRUS: Suspecting a rare virus found in a newborn on Martha’s Vineyard, doctors are raising concerns about ticks in Massachusetts. The Powassan virus has so far surfaced in Essex County and Bristol County, according to CDC data. — NBC Boston

President Trump drags Massachusetts into congressional redistricting argument

Boston City Council eyes new requirements for rat-resistant trash collection

Conservation commission member accused of ethics violations

Ipswich select board approves energy services contracts, despite lingering concerns over chosen auditor

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