Skip to main content

Massachusetts House speaker rejects audit of Legislature

Image
By

BOSTON (AP) — Democratic House Speaker Ronald Mariano said Friday that the House won’t meet with state Auditor Diana DiZoglio about an audit DiZoglio has launched into the Legislature.

DiZoglio, a Democrat who served as both a state representative and senator, described the audit as the first such review in a century of the Legislature that she hopes will “increase transparency, accountability and equity in an area of state government that has been completely ignored.”

Mariano said in a letter to DiZoglio Friday that the House’s financial accounts are already public.

Any “performance assessment” by DiZoglio of House actions including “active and pending legislation, committee appointments, legislative rules, and its policies and procedures” would violate basic separation-of-powers principles, he said.

Any such assessment is the sole responsibility of the House, he said, adding that voters are the final decision-makers of the performance of elected officials.

“Therefore, given that your attempt to conduct a performance audit of the House of Representatives exeeds your legal authority and is unconsitutional, your request to meet to begin such an audit is respectfully denied,” he wrote.

DiZoglio said the audit is critical, given how much legislative work is conducted out of sight.

The 200-member Legislature is exempt from the state’s open meeting law. Democrats — who hold overwhelming majorities in both chambers — routinely hold closed-door caucuses to discuss legislation away from the ears of the press and public.

“Historically, the Legislature has been a closed-door operation, where committee votes have been hidden from the general public, and legislation has been voted on in the dark of night,” DiZoglio said when she announced the audit.

Democratic Senate President Karen Spilka has also cited the separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government.

Under Senate rules, the chamber undergoes an audit every fiscal year by a public accounting firm experienced in auditing governmental entities and makes that audit public, she said.

Senate business is also made public through journals, calendars and recordings of each session, Spilka said.

from Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News
Source: https://ift.tt/cICVl0t
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Virginia family gets keys to Habitat for Humanity’s first 3D-printed home in the US

By
(CNN) — One Virginia family received the keys to their new  3D-printed home  in time for Christmas. The home is Habitat for Humanity’s first 3D-printed home in the nation,  according to a Habitat news release. Janet V. Green, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg, told CNN it partnered with Alquist, a 3D printing company, earlier this year to begin the process. The 1,200-square-foot home has three bedrooms, two full baths and was built from concrete. The technology allowed the home to be built in just 12 hours, which saves about four weeks of construction time for a typical home. April Stringfield purchased the home through the  Habitat Homebuyer Program . She will move in with her 13-year-old son just in time for the holidays. “My son and I are so thankful,” Stringfield said in a  live feed streamed on Habitat’s Facebook  page. “I always wanted to be a homeowner. It’s like a dream come true.” To purchase the home, Stringfield logged hundreds of hours of
Post a Comment
Recent News

Lawsuit: High school football player says coaches forced him to eat pizza as punishment, violating religious beliefs

By
CANTON, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio high school football player who says coaches forced him to eat a pizza covered with pepperoni grease in violation of his religious beliefs is suing his former district and the ousted coaches. The former Canton McKinley High School athlete and his parents filed a federal civil rights suit this week seeking millions of dollars in damages and alleging violations of his religious freedom and constitutional rights. The athlete says in the lawsuit that coaches were notified he doesn’t eat pork or pork residue as a member of the Hebrew Israelite religious faith, but that they ordered him to eat the pizza as punishment for missing an offseason workout — and indicated his spot on the team was at risk if he didn’t. The coaches say the player chose to remove pepperoni and eat the pizza rather than an alternative food. They weren’t aware it violated his religious beliefs, according to a  defamation case they filed  previously against the teen’s father, his attorney a
Post a Comment
Recent News

Bergeron, Pastrnak and Bruins finish off Capitals in 5 games

By
WASHINGTON (AP) — Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak dazzled on offense, Tuukka Rask was rock solid in net and the Boston Bruins are moving on to the second round of the playoffs. Bergeron scored twice at crucial times after Pastrnak’s  highlight-reel  goal, Rask made 40 saves and the Bruins eliminated the Washington Capitals in five games with a 3-1 victory Sunday night. Bergeron delivered the dagger with 7:35 left to set up a second-round showdown against either the Pittsburgh Penguins or New York Islanders. Chants of “TUUKK!” emanated from a large group of black and gold-clad Boston fans who were part of the limited-capacity sellout crowd of 5,333. Those were occasionally interrupted by “We want the Cup!” — the trophy the Bruins last won a decade ago after a 39-year title drought. They’re 12 wins away, thanks to their best players dominating in Game 5. Pastrnak made it look easy putting the puck behind his back and through his legs, assisted on Bergeron’s first goal and was par
Post a Comment
Recent News