Mass General Brigham’s partnership with the YMCA of Greater Boston and the City of Boston is expanding access to fresh, healthy food for families. The Greater Boston Collaborative Food Access Hub serves an average of 20,000 residents monthly, distributing more than 1.7 million pounds of food. It recovers food that would have otherwise gone to waste, supporting both community health and environmental sustainability.
It’s hard to imagine who inspires more loathing from House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka: Ballot question campaigners or Auditor Diana DiZoglio, who continues to press for her audit of their operations.
No wait, it’s actually DiZoglio by a mile. But whatever their levels of distaste, Mariano and Spilka are seeing plenty of both this year and they don’t appear to like that either. That’s based on what they said on the stage with MASSterList columnist Jon Keller in a special public event sit-down Wednesday hosted by the State House News Service and MASSterList.
Spilka called her a “headline hunter” when Keller asked about their fellow Democrat.
“So you just don’t trust her,” Keller said. “That’s the bottom line, right?”
“There's a component of that, yeah,” Mariano said.
DiZoglio, who is up for reelection this year, is going to court over the stalled audit, while various interest groups are taking legislative matters into their own hands clearing hurdles for multiple questions that could end up on the November ballot.
But legal wranglings aside, DiZoglio has already won in the court of public opinion and assembled a coalition that includes the left and right. Whether that coalition sticks together if she runs for higher office is another matter. Alongside her reelection effort this year, she’s also pushing another ballot question, this one placing the governor and the legislature under the state’s public records law.
That question has flown somewhat under the radar, as others seeking to bring back rent control and an income tax cut have generated more headlines. (More on the controversial income tax cut question below.)
The public records law could have more far-reaching consequences than an audit, opening up the Legislature to an unprecedented level of scrutiny. Sure, reporters use public records requests to dig into the machinations of state government – the governor’s office has historically claimed to be exempt but cabinet secretaries and their agencies are not. But lobbyists whose clients lost out on a contract, attorneys, average citizens and cranks outnumber them.
During the sit-down with Keller, in front of about 250 attendees at the Massachusetts Center for Legal Education in Downtown Crossing, Spilka attempted to float a reason to oppose the proposal. “It's my understanding that the way that this ballot initiative may be written is that confidential information about our constituents collected through our offices may not in every circumstance be able to be excluded.”
The proposal, which is two sentences long, includes an exemption to documents tied to “the development of public policy and communications between legislators and their constituents, if those communications are reasonably related to a constituent’s request for assistance in obtaining government-provided benefits or services or interacting with a government agency.”
Apprised of Spilka’s comments, DiZoglio said the Senate president should retire from public office. “Any claim that constituent emails would be subject to public disclosure is false and yet another lie from the Senate president,” she said.
A Spilka spokesman said the Senate president when she spoke earlier was referring to “the challenge of fully understanding the real impacts of ballot questions when they don’t go through the same rigorous vetting as legislation.” The spokesman added, “The Auditor has continually made false claims in the press while not doing the work of answering the questions posed to her by the Senate. This inflammatory language is a prime example of why the Senate believes she is incapable of an independent audit, even if such an audit was possible under our Constitution.”
Back onstage with Keller, Mariano took aim at the fact that two statewide elected officials – DiZoglio and Secretary of State Bill Galvin, whose office oversees elections – are involved “legislative issues.” “There’s something wrong with the system,” he said, dragging Galvin’s same-day voter registration ballot question into the mix with the auditor.
“It is a situation that smacks me as being a little bit too easy for these folks to cherrypick the issues that are important to them and gain support through groups that are active in the economy,” Mariano said.
“We've had reports of people buying signatures,” he added. “We have reports of people signing things under false pretenses. So the whole system is fraught with peril. We're going to look like California with 24 or 25 questions on every ballot.”
Requesting cabinet secretaries’ records is a favorite pastime of mine, and a great way to accidentally discover a governor’s private AOL email address. Pity the attorney who failed to redact that. I’m watching to see how the ballot question plays out, but don’t be surprised if lawmakers take their own crack at it to mitigate its appearance on the ballot. What’s your take? Send it here: [email protected].
Massachusetts has led on clean energy, and we can’t afford to fall behind. Staying on track with planned solar and storage expansion will deliver major customer savings, reduce dependence on expensive gas, and boost grid reliability — with 44% of the benefits coming during winter. See the latest data.
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HAPPENING TODAY
8:30 | The Group Insurance Commission meets and a decision could be made on plan design changes, including scrapping coverage for GLP-1 drugs for weight loss. | More Info and Livestream
9:30 | Treasurer Deb Goldberg chairs a remote meeting of the Mass. Pension Reserve Investment Board. | More
10:00 | The MBTA Board of Directors holds a hybrid meeting. | State Transportation Building, 2nd Floor, 10 Park Plaza, Boston | More Info
10:30 | Gov. Maura Healey joins Google officials to announce "a new statewide initiative related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and workforce development," her office said. Joining Healey for the announcement are Economic Development Secretary Eric Paley, Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Lauren Jones, MassTech CEO Carolyn Kirk, Grow with Google founder Lisa Gevelber and others. Media RSVP required to [email protected]. | Google, 325 Main St., Cambridge
11:00 | House lawmakers hold a formal session to consider an energy and affordability proposal (H 5151) that emerged this week from the Ways and Means Committee following meetings that all members were invited to. Roll calls are set to begin at 1 p.m. | House Chamber, Boston | Calendar
11:15 | Sens. Michael Rodrigues and Jo Comerford hold press availability on the BRIGHT Act with members of the Massachusetts State Universities Council of Presidents. The Senate plans a formal session with plans to take action on the $3.28 billion bond bill (S 2962). | SWM conference room, Room 212, State House, Boston
This week, the Massachusetts House will vote on a massive energy affordability bill. Lawmakers have the opportunity to deliver real relief for residents and move us toward a healthier, more affordable energy system. Urge the Massachusetts House of Representatives to pass an energy affordability bill that keeps us moving forward on climate.
FROM BEACON HILL
TWO PAIR: At Wednesday’s MASSterList/State House News Service event, House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka said they’re still eyeing legislation sparked by federal immigration officials in Minnesota. Artificial intelligence regulations and medical aid-in-dying legislation were also discussed during a wide-ranging sit-down with MASSterList columnist Jon Keller. – State House News Service
‘WAR ON FRAUD’: President Trump tapped Vice President JD Vance for a “war on fraud” and suggested massive public benefits “corruption” within Massachusetts, Maine and California. But experts questioned whether it’s worse than in Minnesota. – GBH News
STATE POLICE SCANDAL: Dash cam footage from 2023 showed a state trooper assigned to investigate a crash appeared willing to delay interviewing a fellow trooper who was involved, and allegedly drunk. – Boston Herald
2026 CAMPAIGN FIX
SIX IN SIXTH: Essex attorney Micah Jones, the lone Republican running for Seth Moulton’s Congressional seat, signed a pledge to limit his stay in office to three two-year terms. He also promised to push for term limits for the rest of Congress if he wins. – Eagle-Tribune
GOV FUND: Gov. Maura Healey was reappointed as head of the Democratic Governors Association’s Women Governors Fund. "I was proud to be part of the DGA’s historic wins in 2022 when we elected a record of eight Democratic women governors – and I’ve been honored to build on those efforts to add Governors Sherrill [of New Jersey] and Spanberger [of Virginia] to our ranks in 2025 as Women Governors Fund Chair," Healey said in a statement. – State House News Service
NEWS NEXT DOOR
ROADBLOCKS FOR HARVARD: Harvard University’s effort to develop its extensive real estate holdings in Allston is running into difficulties, with slow lab space leasing and a $300-plus million grant for the I-90 project pulled by the Trump administration. – Bloomberg
IT’S ELECTRIC: The MBTA is joining forces with the Maryland Transit Administration on a request for proposals to get at least 25 new locomotives, “more than half of which would operate on electric power.” The MBTA, which has an aging fleet, will have its new trains run on the Providence Line. – StreetsBlogMass
WORLD CUP WOES: It’s not just Foxborough town officials concerned about getting their money to cover the costs of hosting World Cup matches at Gillette Stadium. Roughly $900 million for 11 host cities across the U.S. hasn’t been sent out due to a partial federal government shutdown. Separately, state transportation officials said Gillette’s parking will see restrictions, with just 5,000 spaces available, putting pressure on the commuter rail to deliver trainloads of people. – BBC and WBUR
SHOOTING FOUL: Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno isn’t happy with the president of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame after he privately discussed moving tournaments, and economic impact, to Boston. – MassLive
GO WEST: Boston-based Suffolk Construction is looking west to California and focusing on AI and robotics manufacturing projects. The company has a Silicon Valley office. – Boston Business Journal
COURTHOUSE RENAMING: Local Dorchester lawmakers are proposing renaming the Dorchester courthouse in Codman Square after the late Judge Leslie Harris, a former probation officer and public defender who sat on the bench in the Suffolk County Juvenile Court. – Dorchester Reporter
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Enforcement Counsel, Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission
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