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Have you ever wanted to audit Beacon Hill

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A ballot question before state voters
will give you that chance.

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Yes. Vote on question
one would give the state auditor

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the power to do so, and a
no vote on question.

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One would keep things the same.

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Reporter Samantha Gross joined James
Pindell to explain what ballot question

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one brought by state auditor Diana Dizoglio
is all about.

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Samantha, thank you so much for joining us
this day after brought this.

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What is the argument to doing this?

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I used to someone vote yes.

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So she says that people should support
this ballot question

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because they deserve to have access
to the inner workings of the legislature.

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Massachusetts has kind of long

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been known as one of the least
transparent states in the country.

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You know, it's really secretive
in a lot of ways.

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And the legislature is not subject
to a lot of the public records laws

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and open meetings, laws that other bodies
in other states are subject to.

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So she thinks that
this is something that may, you know,

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open up the statehouse a little bit,
make it a little bit more transparent,

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have voters get a better

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understanding
of what their elected officials are doing.

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And also put a little bit of pressure
on the lawmakers

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to, you know, working more efficiently
and get things done?

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I guess I'm a little surprised that
the legislature doesn't even audit itself.

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There's no auditing ever
when it comes to the money.

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That's how it's being spent.

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How is it possible
that in Massachusetts, it's

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unlike you mentioned so many other states

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that there isn't any accountability
or other people auditing it?

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Yeah,
I mean, they do, you know, submit reports.

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They they make some things transparent.

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And that's kind of what
the legislature would argue that they,

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you know, have a process.

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But, yeah,
Massachusetts is unique in this way.

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It's been that way for a long time.

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So that's why, you know, people

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like Diana Giglio, who,
you know, served in the legislature,

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you know, as a state senator, you know,
wants to kind of bring that light back.

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And it's something
that she campaigned on as auditor.

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And now this is kind of her following
on that campaign promise and all of it.

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Exactly. I think the argument.

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Transparency. Accountability.

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What is the possible argument against it
and who's against it?

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Yeah, I mean, lawmakers

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I think, you know,

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people say that it's something that would
hinder their ability to do their work.

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Could be just a burden on top
of all the other things that they're

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supposed to do.

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It's also something
that hasn't been done in 100 years.

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And so, you know, the former state
auditor, Suzanne Bump, had said

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back when Diana was campaigning

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that this is not something
that the auditor has the authority to do.

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And, you know, that they've been through
this process, They've kind of tested this.

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And so it's one of those things
that's so unknown that I think

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there is an argument that like, you know,
can she even do this?

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And I think we'll see.

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The argument that she can't even do it.

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The main thing
here is separation of powers.

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Correct. So how does that work?
Do you find that to me?

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Yeah.

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So, I mean, the
the auditor, you know, is trying

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to do a check on a branch of government,
but they all work together.

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And I think this is something that there
is because it hasn't been done before.

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It's not really
clear of like how that works.

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Who could be involved.

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You know, when her office has to lobby
the legislature to pass the legislation

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or when the legislature works with her
on audits, that doctor's office

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does otherwise on other offices
in the state,

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they audit all sorts of things,
anything that gets public money.

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There's a lot of kind of mixing of,
you know, duties there.

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And so that's kind of
the big question is like,

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can she even like be an independent party
to perform an audit?

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Well, she's certainly been out there
campaigning for even when she ran.

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She's campaigning on it
now with the legislature,

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which is really against
is not doing a whole lot. Right.

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They're not going to be out there public
like we do not want transparency.

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Right. Is that what's the dynamic here?

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Yeah, it's
something they haven't been vocal about.

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The opposition of this has, I think, been
a bit quieter than the people for it.

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I got to ask.

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I mean, this does seem kind of esoteric
and kind of an inside Beacon Hill

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sort of thing.

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So if I'm a voter, let's make up a town
in Dedham and in Lynn or wherever.

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How does this impact me
one way or the other?

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I think that if you were a voter
and you elect your state representative

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to go to Beacon Hill
and to represent you and,

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you know, getting money for your town,
fixing your pothole,

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you know, patching up that park
that needs help, you want to know exactly

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like how those conversations are going

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and what types of decisions are being made
when they're creating their budget.

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We don't really know exactly like what

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an audit like this would would bring out.

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But if you're a voter and you want to
know, I think that's the argument for it.

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Well, that is so helpful to understand
this particular ballot question.

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Reporter Samantha J. Gross,
thanks for joining us.

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Thanks for having me.

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For daily access to Boston Globe today,
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