Following the announcement from the state auditor’s office that they intend to pursue litigation against the Massachusetts legislature after the Speaker of the House and Senate President refused to comply with the Auditor’s audits, the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance issued the following statement in support of the proposal.

“The Massachusetts legislature cannot pass a budget on time, and they cannot even agree to their rules for their joint legislative committees. It’s no secret that Speaker Rob Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka oversee the most secretive and dysfunctional legislative body in America. The victims are the taxpayers who must deal with the consequences of their lack of transparency and accountability. We applaud the state Auditor for wanting to audit the legislature and we insist that if the Speaker and Senate President take the Auditor to court over this, taxpayers should not be expected to pay for their legal bills. These legislative leaders should not be bailed out by the taxpayers because of their lack of transparency to those very same taxpayers,” said Paul D. Craney, spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.

The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance also encouraged the Auditor’s office to expand the scope of their audits to include the other two branches of government claiming exemptions, the Governor’s office, and the judiciary.