August 26, 2024 • 37 mins
Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio just released an audit of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, which drew a lot of attention. The audit uncovered “disturbing and unlawful practices” at MCCA. DiZoglio joined Dan to discuss her recent audit as well as her push to ban nondisclosure agreements in state government.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm WBSY Constans Radio with.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Us is the State Auditor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Diana do is Auglio, Diana, Madam Auditor. I should say,
how are you tonight?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Oh? Great, Dad, thanks for having me. I'm up a
little past my bedtime, but I am here. I wouldn't
miss an opportunity to be on Nightside.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, I appreciate it. You you have had a very
interesting career, not You started off as an as an
intern or as an aide at the State House of Representatives.
Then you were elected to the House of Representatives and
you served I think it was was it four terms
there if I'm if I'm correct.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Or wrong, I sixth year of the State Representatives and
then went on to the Senate for four years there
until I was most recently elected to be your state auditor.
And it's been a really humbling, incredible experience, and.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
You very independent minded member of the legislature. And I
think it's probably fair to say that some in the
legislative leadership probably looked at you as a bit of
a rebel or am I overstating it?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Yeah? I think that that's actually pretty accurate some from
the Merrimack Valley. I am Masullen born and raised were
up on the New Hampshire border, and you know, I
spent several years during my childhood in the city of
Lawrence as well. Moved around quite a bit during my childhood.
I was raised by a young mother. She was only
(01:39):
seventeen when she had me, and I grew up housing
insecure and we moved around quite a bit depending on
where my mom could find work as a young nurse's
aide at the time. And you know, I graduated from
the public school system here and ended up going off
to Community College, which was an associates degree that I
was able to afford thanks to our state investments and
(02:00):
families like mine. From there, I earned a scholarship to
Wellesley College, ended up getting my degree from Wellesley, and look,
knowing that others had invested in me and given me
the opportunity to succeed someone coming from my background, I
really felt and still do feel a strong calling to
(02:22):
serve in whatever way I'm able to to make sure
that I am working hard to ensure that those opportunities
are provided to others in our communities. And at that
age when I just graduated from college. Since I couldn't
do those types of investments financially, I ended up serving
in a lot of different community service programs. I worked
(02:43):
at youth centers, community centers, nonprofits, you name it. While
I was simultaneously waitressing and cleaning houses to make ends
meet financially speaking, and I got a job offer working
at the State House in Boston. Full transparency, I had
no idea what a state representative did. I did not
(03:03):
generally use legislature as part of my vocabulary. Didn't really
know what the legislature was or what it did. But
I got the job as a community activist. There was
a state rep who needed somebody who came from the community.
I had strong roots in the community. Obviously. I ended
up going to work at the State House learning about
all the great things that state government can do to
(03:25):
invest in our communities and to serve everyday people. And
I also, during that very short amount of time working
at the State House in Boston, learned about the flip
side of how state government can also operate when there
is no accountability. I was sexually harassed while I was
working as a legislative aid. I was in my twenties,
(03:48):
at the time fort jow out of college, and the
way that they thought it was appropriate Dan to deal
with that harassment was to fire me and then require
that just to get myself next week severance package. Not
for some big settlement or anything like that, but just
to get my six week severance package. On my way
out the door, that I signed away my right to
(04:08):
talk about what happened among some of the most powerful
politicians in Massachusetts at our own Statehouse. And I didn't
let them get rid of me keep me quiet. I
didn't leave state government like they told me to do.
Instead ran for state representative and a little over a
year later made my way back into that same chamber
that fired me as the youngest woman serving in the
(04:29):
House of Representatives at that time. And since then, Dan,
I've been fighting like hell to make sure that we
have a more transparent, accountable, equitable, and accessible state legislature
and overall state government that serves working families across our
state who all too often fight hard to receive at
the table, but unfortunately continue to find themselves disenfranchised or
(04:50):
isolated from the broken system that currently exists here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I do that a couple of parts of that store.
There's a couple of parts of your story that I
think are incredible. Amazing to go from a community college
to Wellesley College is amazing. Someone there must have seen
in you a spark.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
And then one of my professors, you're right, Yes, her
name was Ann millerk and a wonderful, wonderful human and
she did and she invested in me, and I'll forever
be grateful to her for seeing potential in me that
I couldn't see in myself.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Sure, and then to deal with what you dealt with
at the State House as an aide. One of the
things we're going to talk about tonight are the need
to eliminate what's called non disclosure agreements, which I think
is what you were referring to. But then to come
back a year later as an elected member of the
(05:52):
great in General Court as they call it, you really
knew how the system worked, in how the system should work,
and all of that. So I think that's a great
way to reintroduce yourself to the audience. But I want
to talk about Boston Convention Center, the audit that you
(06:14):
folks have just completed and disclosed. I want to talk
about non disclosure agreements. And I also want to talk
about ballot question number one, because one of the things
that you want to do as state auditor is to
audit the state legislature, and surprise, surprise, the leadership of
the state Legislature wants no part of that. So we'll
(06:36):
take questions and for I think of all the statewide
office holders, and obviously there are six of you constitutional
office holders, you were one that is taking a position
that very few people understand, and you're explaining it and
you're doing something with it. So we've got to take
(06:57):
a quick break. We'll get the phone calls, but first
I want to get to all of those issues. And
I also want to talk about that ballot question, because
that's one that needs to pass. Its ballot question number one,
and I know that you're very much behind it as well.
My guest is the State Order of the Carmwalth of Massachusetts,
Diane Dezaglio. An incredible story but also an attitude of
(07:19):
which we need more at the State House. In my
humble opinion, if you'd like to get on the line
six one, seven, two, five four to ten thirty six
one seven, nine, three one ten thirty, the state orner
is a Democrat, a former state representative, form of state
center and now one of the six constitutional offices. So
we officers here in the Cormwalth of Massachusetts, and we'll
(07:40):
start off with the Boston Convention Center audit, which has
just been completed and will explain its relevance. Back on
Night Side right after this with the State Order and
Diane at Desauglio.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
My guess the State Auditor Diana Dezaglio. Look, let's start
with the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, which for many years
was considered a dumping ground for political patronage. You did
an audit which covered two years twenty twenty one, twenty
(08:21):
twenty two, and you found some problems. Let's talk about it.
What should the public know about this?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Yeah, So all our office audits every state entity at
least once every three years, or we do our us
to do so, as we were required to by law.
And the Convention Center was up for their audits. And
this is actually following multiple reports and the Boston Globe
reported on this, amongst other news outlets, that there were
(08:50):
allegations racial discrimination issues amongst other challenges regarding state contracting, prosurement,
going out to bid using our state tax dollars. So
our office looked into the convention center challenges, uh, following
those reports and following the many uh, you know, complaints
(09:13):
and just concerns that were that were raised to our office,
and we recently released the results of that audit report,
and we found some pretty disturbing things. And we found
that the Mathadiss Convention Center actually really needed to augment
their human resources practices, that employee complaints were not being
(09:35):
handled accurately, UH, that uh, distribution regarding security plans was
not being handled equitably with clients.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
UH.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
But we also found more disturbing things alongside of that,
you know, that that you know, we we had gotten
complaints about in alignment with those things, I should say, uh,
pertaining to the abuse of state taxpayer dollars. Alongside of
the audit findings concerning you know, violations of their own
(10:06):
processes and procedures, we actually found that the Convention Center
authority was unlawfully executing some of their state contracts and
entering into procurement and you know, going out to bid
without actually documenting some of those original bids, which is
required by our public records law, and you know, you
(10:28):
need to make sure that when you're sending out these
bids that you're actually documenting that process to make sure
that it was done ethically, morally, and legally. And we
found a significant lack of documentation suggesting destruction of public records,
which is very concerning. We've referred those matters to the
Secretary of State's office and we found significant challenges and
(10:52):
you know, potential violations of the law that we've actually
referred to the Attorney General's office regarding how state contracts
were being execut suited in violation of the Convention Center's
own policies and procedures, and some that were done unlawfully.
So we let the Convention Center know about these things.
(11:14):
They said that they are going to take action to
address these concerns. They agreed with us on a majority
of the issues that we raised them. I do have
to say this was all done under previous leadership, and
the new interim executive director was incredibly cooperative with our
audit team, very responsive, and has already begun to take
(11:37):
actions on the issues raised. There was also one more thing, just.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
To give her the credit is Gloria Larson.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Gloria, Yes, yes, she's.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Working with you. The prior executive director who ran into
some choppy waters, let's put it like that, was David Gibbons.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
He's no longer there, Yes, So Gloria Larson was incredibly
you know, helpful to our audit team in ensuring that
we got the documents that we were requesting and that
the audit process went smoothly. That's not always the case
in every agency. Audits aren't that easy for some folks
(12:20):
to participate in. But this process went smoothly thanks to
the new and Derman executive director. So you know, our
audit team was thankful for that. But one of the
other things that we did find Dan that I didn't
get to mention, was we actually found that and this
is something very near and dear to me. As I
already mentioned, I talked about an NDA that was executed
(12:40):
years ago, over ten years ago, when I was a
younger woman in my twenties. That that was over ten
years ago. That was for a six week severance package,
and it was to cover sexual harassment occurring at the
state House. What I uncovered in this most recent audit
of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority alongside my audit team
(13:01):
was the unlawful execution of a taxpayer funded, one point
two million dollar taxpayer funded non disclosure agreement that concealed
allegations of racial discrimination and retaliation at our Convention Center authority.
(13:23):
So we went from over ten years ago a six
week severance package sexual harassment at the state House, in
action occurring for the last ten plus years, even though
this issue was repeatedly raised to the legislature, repeatedly raised
to the previous administration, and now we're in a situation
(13:43):
in twenty twenty four where we now have a one
point two million dollar taxpayer funded non disclosure agreement concealing
allegations of racial discrimination and retaliation. That is unacceptable. We
are going backwards in on this issue regarding transparency, accountability,
and also abuse of our taxpayer dollars and the silence
(14:06):
saying of potential victims of harassment, discrimination, abuse, or anybody
who may have seen something that is an illegal activity
in a state entity. We need to take action. It
is absolutely unacceptable that we continue to allow year after
a year with no action being taken on this issue.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
The abuse of.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Our tax dollars to silence people about inappropriate and even
illegal activities.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
So these so these NDAs in which taxpayers, taxpayer money
is used to silence victims, to cover up the activities
of state officials, taxpayer money is used. You want, as
I understand that Governor Healey by executive order to outlaw
(14:54):
the use of NDAs, is that within Is that within
her scope of authority?
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Yes it is. And I actually had never thought about
it from that perspective before. But recently I was called
and told through my office that I was going to
be acting governor for short since on Tuesday when everybody
was gone at the convention. And subsequently had looked into,
(15:23):
you know, some of the good things one would be
able to do in the position of acting governor. That
could you know, bring bring some attention to an issue
of importance and do some good you know, and and
we'll say, get into some good trouble. Right. So I
looked into some of the you know options, and you know,
(15:45):
I had folks calling saying, you know, you need to
sign an executive order to do this or do this
or do that. I said, you know, all the respects,
thank you. You know, an administration could just as easily
rescind an executive order. It's this second big at home
as quickly as it was signed. Right, And that's not
that's not a way to make meaningful progress.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
We have an elected governor, we have an elected lieutenant governor.
But I did have the opportunity to think about, you know,
from an acting governor's perspective. So I thought, you know,
what I could raise awareness about and highlight that was
important to me, important to the causes that I've worked on,
and important to the communities that I've represented, not just
(16:29):
now but through the years that I've been working up
at the State House. And you know, we had just
been working on that audit of the Convention Center authority.
This issue was fresh on my mind while I was
getting asked what I was planning to highlight, and I
ended up, you know, looking into the option of drafting
(16:49):
an executive order and if that would you know, potentially
resolve some of these challenges in our state agencies. And
I found that it is possible to do that iministration
ten indeed, issue an executive order to prevent the abuse
of taxpayer dollars in going towards funding these non disclosure agreements.
(17:12):
To conceal these illegal activities. So I drafted that proposal.
You may have heard I didn't get to serve ex
acting governor, but that's okay. I appreciated the experience and
the opportunity of getting to think about this issue from
a different perspective, because the result was that I got
to work. We drafted an executive order, and we presented
(17:34):
it for the governor's consideration and the Lieutenant governor's consideration.
And I am strongly urging the governor and our team
to take a look at that executive order draft, you know,
when they get their next chance. It is incredibly important
that we've taken action again. We've been going backwards. Not
time to make progress.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
We will keep our eye on that. What am I
going to do is I got to take a news
break and then we come back. I also want to
talk about the ballot question, about your desire to audit
the legislature and why that's important. And I also want
to ask people and invite people to call six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty six one seven, nine, three, one ten thirty.
Not often do you have the opportunity to talk with
(18:17):
one of the state constitutional officers. State auditor. The Auditor
of the Comwealth of Massachusetts, Diana Dezaglio is here. As
you can see, she has many ideas. If you have
a question or comment, I want to encourage her. She
believes that sunshine is the greatest disinfectant and as I believe,
(18:39):
and she is a breath of fresh air at the
State House. We'll be back on Nightside with a conversation
about the ballot question and also you have questions and comments,
I'd love to hear from you back on Nightside with
the State Auditor.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray and Boston's News Radio,
just as.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
The State Auditor of the come Wealth of Massachusetts, and
there is there are five ballot questions on the November ballot.
Question Number one basically is asking us, the voters, to
give the state Auditor, Diana de Zaglio, the authority to
(19:21):
audit the state legislature. This is a big, big question.
Tell us why, auditor.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Well, for anybody who's followed recent happenings in our state legislature,
state legislature had a really challenging time getting things across
the finish line, you know, issues being taken up in
the middle of the night. Climate change, legislation not getting passed,
economic development bill getting left on the table, amongst other
(19:51):
really important issues to Massachusetts residents who were relying on
the legislature to do their jobs and to do their
jobs in a kindly fashion, that did not occur. The
legislature has been having a challenging time with getting things
done in a timely fashion for many years now, but
I think this year that was really put on display
(20:14):
in a very salient way for Massachusetts residents to be
able to see clearly that this is not the way
the Massachusetts legislature is supposed to be operating, especially not
dan in a state like Massachusetts. In Massachusetts we leave
on so many issues. But here in Massachusetts, our state
legislature is continually ranked by almost every good government group
(20:38):
as the least transparent, the least accessible, the least accountable
state legislature in the entire nation. It is not subject
to public records laws, not subject to open meeting laws.
Bills are able to get passed in the middle of
the night when no one's wat There has been a
(21:02):
cloak of darkness over the State House for far too long,
and this year we have an opportunity to vote on
one issue that will help to shine a light on
some of the dark areas in our state legislature. And
that is Question one. Question one is asking all of
(21:23):
you who are listening at home, to please give the
Office of State Auditor the explicit authority to audit the
state legislature. They are the only state entity who is
refusing to recognize what current law already states, which is
(21:45):
that the Office of State Auditor is to audit all
state departments, offices, activities. They are claiming that they believe
they're exempt because they make their own rule rules, and
they don't think that they're subject to the same laws
as everybody else is, as every other state entity is.
(22:07):
We had one hundred and seventeen times that we have
found through our history that the state legislature actually has
been audited by the Office of State Auditor. It actually
was always audited by our office, since their office is
inception it's creation in eighteen forty nine, at which time
(22:28):
audits of the legislature started happening, and they happened very
frequently up until only in recent years legislative leaders decided
to balk at that law and bok at those audits
and decide that they were no longer going to cooperate.
And when I ran for this office, I committed to
(22:51):
the tax paying residents of this Commonwealth that I would
audit the legislature if you sent me to the Office
of State Auditor. I am fulfilling that promise to the voters.
I am currently auditing the legislature, but they are refusing
to even speak with the auditors in my office, never
(23:11):
mind cooperate with their audit. So we have this option
of bringing this to the ballot. It took a lot
of work to get this on the ballot. I want
to thank everybody who helped on this. If you're sitting
at home listening and you are somebody who helped the
goalect signatures, thank you because we've got over one hundred
thousand signatures dan to get this issue on the ballot
(23:35):
so that voters you listening at home, can make it
crystal clear to our state legislature that we expect them
to follow our constitution which calls on them to it
all times, be accountable to we the people, And this
audit of the legislature will ensure increased transparency, increased accountability,
(23:56):
increased successibility. The list goes on it won't solve all
of the problems. Legislators themselves need to take action to
address the toxic culture that does exist within the legislature.
But this issue will at least give us some insight
into the finances and give us insight into some of
(24:17):
the processes and procedures and some of the breakdowns that
need to be addressed. I cannot do this without you.
Please vote yes on one Bring on the Sun.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
So if the majority of people in Massachusetts who vote
on November fifth vote yes, that is it. You then
have that ballot approval and the legislature will not be
able to fight you, or will they then try to
go to court and stop you? And what do you
(24:51):
think happens next?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
They could certainly try to fight it, Dan, But I
consistently remind our legislators that if the legislature does fight
this issue, they're not fighting me. They're not fighting the
woman from the fillin who happened to hold this elected
office right now. You know, by the grace of God
and things to you at home for your vote. I
(25:14):
appreciate it, But they're not fighting me. They're not fighting me,
They're fighting all of you. If they choose to fight
this The voters of Massachusetts already made it clear that
they wanted this issue to be They wanted this issue
to be something that was worked on. They wanted this
audit to be done when they went to vote. I
had been very transparent, but this is what I was
(25:35):
going to do if I was elected. I was duly elected.
I am trying to fulfill the will of the voters,
and I am being stone involved. Now there's another opportunity
for us to make crystal clear to legislative leaders how
we feel about this in a much more direct and
explicit manner, which simply just talks about this audit in
(25:57):
and of itself, because they seem to still be confused
about what the law says, uh and about my responsibility
to the taxpayers. I do need voters to go out
and make that crystal clear if I'm going to be
able to do this good work on behalf of taxpayers,
and it is on behalf of taxpayers that we do
(26:18):
this work. Look, all the audits that we conduct, those
all are matters of public records. So whenever we learn
things about these agencies and these entities and these departments,
that means that all of you learn about these things
and I need to say that.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
In my opinion is this is not a partisan issue.
You're a democrat, The legislature is overwhelmingly democratic. All you're
looking to do is to again open up the books.
Sunlight's the greatest disinfectant. One thing you said which I
did not realize, Madam Auditor, and that was that when
was the last time or when or were the leg
(26:59):
was the legislature sure audited on a regular basis? Were
going back twenty years, fifty years, one hundred years.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
The regular audits seemed too so we have as many
records as we could find. A lot of them were buried,
Some of them were in the State House library. Most
of them were actually tucked in the back of the
Auditor's office in some old dusty books that were on
some backshelves. But from what we can find, and I
clarify with that because there could be more information that
(27:29):
comes forward. From what we've been able to find, it
seems as though those regular audits stopped in the early,
very early nineties. There was an it audit that happened
I think in the early two thousands. Actually that was
just of some of their information technology systems. But the
one that actually ended in the early nineties, there was
(27:50):
actually an audit of an issue with a court officer
collecting payments apparently fraudulently within the House of Representatives in
the legislature, and when the issue was raised to the
state's attorney general at that time, the Attorney General referred
the matter to the state auditor and said, this is
(28:12):
a matter for the state auditor to review because it
is a state entity. And he said, I'm the attorney general,
this is the state auditor's purview. Referred to the state auditor.
It was investigated at that time, and fraudulent payments were
found to have been occurring, and that issue was able
to be remedied due to the state auditors audit now
(28:37):
because of their refusal.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
In my opinion, that gives you some pretty good legal precedents.
I have full phone lines and I want to get
to as many callers as I can. My guess is
the state Auditor the Commonwealth, Diane de Zaglio. She is
fighting for transparency. She wants to have the ability to
audit the state legislature. This is not a Republican Democratic
(28:59):
issue Democrat. The legislature is overwhelmingly Democrat. She is a
rebel with a cause in my opinion, Back on Nightside.
If you're on the line, get your questions, you have
comments together quickly because I want to get to as
many of you as possible between now and the ten
o'clock hour. Back with the State Auditor Diana Dezaglio right
after these brief messages.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I'm going to get right to the call. IM going
to ask everybody to be as brief as possible. We
covered a lot of territory tonight. But whatever questions of
comments you have, let's go with Dave in Hudson, New Hampshire.
First up, Dave Coard, Ahad e Rowin State Auditor Diana
do Zauglio. Go ahead, Dave, hey.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
Are doing Thanks for taking my call. Thirteen of the
fourteen unions at the NBTA commuteril have been working under
an expired contract that expired in twenty twenty two. Should
the Commuterial Operate a ciolas be allowed to bid on
the next operator contract if they don't have current remiss
in place what they work force?
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Okay, not sure if that is an area that the
auditor has already over, but she may have an opinion.
Go ahead, Diana.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Yeah, thank you, Dan, and thanks for raising that issue
pertaining to Kiolas. We're actually auditing KYO less contracts right
now for a certain audit period. We're not able to
audit present happening, but we are able to audit things
that have already occurred to try to shine a light
on potential contractual issues, things that should have been in
(30:31):
place that might not have been in place, issues and
challenges that need to be identified so we can prevent
those things from happening moving forward. But couldn't agree more
that we need increased scrutiny overall at the MBTA, where
we've had safety challenge after safety challenge, performance issue after
performance issue. We did recently conduct an audit of a
(30:53):
contract or a private company known as Block by Block
that was actually executed during a loophole period where the
Taxpayer Protection Act was not required to be implemented and
be followed during that time period the contract was executed.
We found significant challenges in the contract and the result
(31:16):
was instructions were not being done in a timely fashion
according to what the agreed upon timeframe was between the
MBTA and the contract provider, and also employees were not
being trained on safety in accordance with the way they
were supposed to be trained to prepare them for going
out into the field, which puts writers at risk, puts
(31:38):
employees at risk, and also risk taxpayer funds as well.
But we did identify those challenges. We made recommendations to
the MBTA and called on them to augment their performance
to increase their oversights significantly. So did inform them that
it was unacceptable. They have said that they're going to
(31:59):
work to address those challenges that were identified, and we
do continue to audit issues at the MBTA. I will
say that even though we are auditing the Keyless contract
right now, that we have a lot more work that
we would like to do pertaining the audit. Pertaining to
auditing the MBTA, I have requested repeatedly an audit unit
(32:23):
for the MBTA and transportation in Massachusetts be implemented in
my office, that it be funded, and that audit unit
that I've asked for funding for to be able to
address these constant transportation challenges that we're having in Massachusetts
that has not passed legislative committees. And we've also asked
(32:43):
the administration to weigh in and to support us on this,
and we haven't received support for that proposal from the
administration yet. So if you're interested in more audits and
more oversight of the MBTA, please call your legislators and
call the administration and ask them to support that MBTA
audit unit that our office has been requesting to make
sure that we can consistently do that work instead of
(33:06):
just having to based on limited resources, do these one
and done audits that can only focus on a few
issues at a time.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
All right, Dave, thank you for the call. I hope
that answers your question. I also want to make it
very clear you can't talk about audits that you may
be in the process of conducting, and I understand it
that you will be looking at the expenses in the
state has expanded for the shelter for migrants coming into
(33:36):
the state, which is now about two billion dollars, and
particularly some of the contracts that are characterized as no
bid contracts.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
That you will Yeah, we are conducting. Yes, we are
currently conducting an audit of housing across Massachusetts, including examining
the emergency shelter system. And you are correct, while we're
not allowed to discuss an ongoing audit in detail. What
I can say is that all of that information will
be made available as a matter of public record for
(34:06):
anyone who's interested, and we will certainly be sharing our
findings with everybody as soon as that other reques.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
I want to have you back that when that's completed.
Let me try to get one or maybe two calls
in quickly, Michael and Amesbury. Michael, you'll have to stay
to auditor Diana de Zogla. You go right ahead, Michael.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
Thanks Dan. It's unbelievable how much of our tax dollers
are being used her non disclosures across government. Why is
this still happening?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Great question, Yeah, that's quick answer, if you can go ahead,
all right.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yeah, I mean, I'll try to keep it short. Dan,
I will tell you Michael first, thanks for calling in
on this. It's it's incredibly an important issue. Look, for
years as a legislator, I was fighting to ban the
abuse of tax dayer dollars from going towards funding these
non disclosure agreements, and we made, you know, some small
(34:58):
strides the Senate ban these taxpayer funds from going towards
non disclosure agreements and the Senate. Actually, while I was
a state Senator, we repeatedly, unanimously and in a bypartisan fashion.
I might add, all the Republicans and all the Democrats
joined in passing the legislation that I filed to ban
these agreements across state government. That unfortunately was not a
(35:23):
welcome notion to the House of Representatives, nor was it
a welcome notion to the previous administration, who repeatedly stated
that they supported the state government's ability to use your
tax dollars to fund the silencing of people in state government.
(35:45):
So the pushback from some incredibly powerful people on Beacon
Hell is really what's behind the reason why this sit
and passed? Might ask, why would anybody push against this? Well,
it might have something to do with the fact that
the House of Representatives alone has executed at least thirty
three agreements that we know about, but refuse to tell
(36:06):
us what they were for, how much was spent on them,
and they refuse to make the meaningful reforms that are
necessary to prevent those agreements from being abused moving forwards.
So it is some of these powerful politicians who are
the ones who want to be able to continue to
use these agreements to potentially benefit themselves, their friends, other
(36:29):
people that they are politically connected with. So you know,
it might be the case that they don't want to
pass these reforms because they would be passing these reforms
and impacting their own ability to use these agreements.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Well said Diana, This has been a great hour and
I think you have shown the light shine, the light
of sidlight in so many areas. Please continue to do
this work, Michael, thank you for your call. Those of
you on the line, stay there and I will talk
to you and try to get to your questions after
(37:04):
the ten o'clock news. But it is well passed the
order to spend time. Thanks for spending an hour with us,
and let's do it again, Okay, Dan, I.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
Just want to say thank you so much. Thank you
to all of the folks tuning in. Please stay in touch,
send along your request to the Auditor's office. We'd love
to hear from folks in our communities and love you
all very much. Have a great night. Thanks again, and
we will.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Totally support you. You have my personal support. I know
I will be voting yes on ballot question number one,
trust me on that.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
Ess On one, Bring on the Sun all right, I
love the slogan.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
I love the slogan. Thanks again, State auditor die In
die zactly. We will be back right after the ten
o'clock news if you're on the line, if you'd like
to comment on what you had to say, great, And
then we have some other topics we want to get
to as well, back after the ten o'clock news on
night Side
It's Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm WBSY Constans Radio with.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Us is the State Auditor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Diana do is Auglio, Diana, Madam Auditor. I should say,
how are you tonight?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Oh? Great, Dad, thanks for having me. I'm up a
little past my bedtime, but I am here. I wouldn't
miss an opportunity to be on Nightside.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, I appreciate it. You you have had a very
interesting career, not You started off as an as an
intern or as an aide at the State House of Representatives.
Then you were elected to the House of Representatives and
you served I think it was was it four terms
there if I'm if I'm correct.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Or wrong, I sixth year of the State Representatives and
then went on to the Senate for four years there
until I was most recently elected to be your state auditor.
And it's been a really humbling, incredible experience, and.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
You very independent minded member of the legislature. And I
think it's probably fair to say that some in the
legislative leadership probably looked at you as a bit of
a rebel or am I overstating it?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Yeah? I think that that's actually pretty accurate some from
the Merrimack Valley. I am Masullen born and raised were
up on the New Hampshire border, and you know, I
spent several years during my childhood in the city of
Lawrence as well. Moved around quite a bit during my childhood.
I was raised by a young mother. She was only
(01:39):
seventeen when she had me, and I grew up housing
insecure and we moved around quite a bit depending on
where my mom could find work as a young nurse's
aide at the time. And you know, I graduated from
the public school system here and ended up going off
to Community College, which was an associates degree that I
was able to afford thanks to our state investments and
(02:00):
families like mine. From there, I earned a scholarship to
Wellesley College, ended up getting my degree from Wellesley, and look,
knowing that others had invested in me and given me
the opportunity to succeed someone coming from my background, I
really felt and still do feel a strong calling to
(02:22):
serve in whatever way I'm able to to make sure
that I am working hard to ensure that those opportunities
are provided to others in our communities. And at that
age when I just graduated from college. Since I couldn't
do those types of investments financially, I ended up serving
in a lot of different community service programs. I worked
(02:43):
at youth centers, community centers, nonprofits, you name it. While
I was simultaneously waitressing and cleaning houses to make ends
meet financially speaking, and I got a job offer working
at the State House in Boston. Full transparency, I had
no idea what a state representative did. I did not
(03:03):
generally use legislature as part of my vocabulary. Didn't really
know what the legislature was or what it did. But
I got the job as a community activist. There was
a state rep who needed somebody who came from the community.
I had strong roots in the community. Obviously. I ended
up going to work at the State House learning about
all the great things that state government can do to
(03:25):
invest in our communities and to serve everyday people. And
I also, during that very short amount of time working
at the State House in Boston, learned about the flip
side of how state government can also operate when there
is no accountability. I was sexually harassed while I was
working as a legislative aid. I was in my twenties,
(03:48):
at the time fort jow out of college, and the
way that they thought it was appropriate Dan to deal
with that harassment was to fire me and then require
that just to get myself next week severance package. Not
for some big settlement or anything like that, but just
to get my six week severance package. On my way
out the door, that I signed away my right to
(04:08):
talk about what happened among some of the most powerful
politicians in Massachusetts at our own Statehouse. And I didn't
let them get rid of me keep me quiet. I
didn't leave state government like they told me to do.
Instead ran for state representative and a little over a
year later made my way back into that same chamber
that fired me as the youngest woman serving in the
(04:29):
House of Representatives at that time. And since then, Dan,
I've been fighting like hell to make sure that we
have a more transparent, accountable, equitable, and accessible state legislature
and overall state government that serves working families across our
state who all too often fight hard to receive at
the table, but unfortunately continue to find themselves disenfranchised or
(04:50):
isolated from the broken system that currently exists here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I do that a couple of parts of that store.
There's a couple of parts of your story that I
think are incredible. Amazing to go from a community college
to Wellesley College is amazing. Someone there must have seen
in you a spark.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
And then one of my professors, you're right, Yes, her
name was Ann millerk and a wonderful, wonderful human and
she did and she invested in me, and I'll forever
be grateful to her for seeing potential in me that
I couldn't see in myself.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Sure, and then to deal with what you dealt with
at the State House as an aide. One of the
things we're going to talk about tonight are the need
to eliminate what's called non disclosure agreements, which I think
is what you were referring to. But then to come
back a year later as an elected member of the
(05:52):
great in General Court as they call it, you really
knew how the system worked, in how the system should work,
and all of that. So I think that's a great
way to reintroduce yourself to the audience. But I want
to talk about Boston Convention Center, the audit that you
(06:14):
folks have just completed and disclosed. I want to talk
about non disclosure agreements. And I also want to talk
about ballot question number one, because one of the things
that you want to do as state auditor is to
audit the state legislature, and surprise, surprise, the leadership of
the state Legislature wants no part of that. So we'll
(06:36):
take questions and for I think of all the statewide
office holders, and obviously there are six of you constitutional
office holders, you were one that is taking a position
that very few people understand, and you're explaining it and
you're doing something with it. So we've got to take
(06:57):
a quick break. We'll get the phone calls, but first
I want to get to all of those issues. And
I also want to talk about that ballot question, because
that's one that needs to pass. Its ballot question number one,
and I know that you're very much behind it as well.
My guest is the State Order of the Carmwalth of Massachusetts,
Diane Dezaglio. An incredible story but also an attitude of
(07:19):
which we need more at the State House. In my
humble opinion, if you'd like to get on the line
six one, seven, two, five four to ten thirty six
one seven, nine, three one ten thirty, the state orner
is a Democrat, a former state representative, form of state
center and now one of the six constitutional offices. So
we officers here in the Cormwalth of Massachusetts, and we'll
(07:40):
start off with the Boston Convention Center audit, which has
just been completed and will explain its relevance. Back on
Night Side right after this with the State Order and
Diane at Desauglio.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
My guess the State Auditor Diana Dezaglio. Look, let's start
with the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, which for many years
was considered a dumping ground for political patronage. You did
an audit which covered two years twenty twenty one, twenty
(08:21):
twenty two, and you found some problems. Let's talk about it.
What should the public know about this?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Yeah, So all our office audits every state entity at
least once every three years, or we do our us
to do so, as we were required to by law.
And the Convention Center was up for their audits. And
this is actually following multiple reports and the Boston Globe
reported on this, amongst other news outlets, that there were
(08:50):
allegations racial discrimination issues amongst other challenges regarding state contracting, prosurement,
going out to bid using our state tax dollars. So
our office looked into the convention center challenges, uh, following
those reports and following the many uh, you know, complaints
(09:13):
and just concerns that were that were raised to our office,
and we recently released the results of that audit report,
and we found some pretty disturbing things. And we found
that the Mathadiss Convention Center actually really needed to augment
their human resources practices, that employee complaints were not being
(09:35):
handled accurately, UH, that uh, distribution regarding security plans was
not being handled equitably with clients.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
UH.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
But we also found more disturbing things alongside of that,
you know, that that you know, we we had gotten
complaints about in alignment with those things, I should say, uh,
pertaining to the abuse of state taxpayer dollars. Alongside of
the audit findings concerning you know, violations of their own
(10:06):
processes and procedures, we actually found that the Convention Center
authority was unlawfully executing some of their state contracts and
entering into procurement and you know, going out to bid
without actually documenting some of those original bids, which is
required by our public records law, and you know, you
(10:28):
need to make sure that when you're sending out these
bids that you're actually documenting that process to make sure
that it was done ethically, morally, and legally. And we
found a significant lack of documentation suggesting destruction of public records,
which is very concerning. We've referred those matters to the
Secretary of State's office and we found significant challenges and
(10:52):
you know, potential violations of the law that we've actually
referred to the Attorney General's office regarding how state contracts
were being execut suited in violation of the Convention Center's
own policies and procedures, and some that were done unlawfully.
So we let the Convention Center know about these things.
(11:14):
They said that they are going to take action to
address these concerns. They agreed with us on a majority
of the issues that we raised them. I do have
to say this was all done under previous leadership, and
the new interim executive director was incredibly cooperative with our
audit team, very responsive, and has already begun to take
(11:37):
actions on the issues raised. There was also one more thing, just.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
To give her the credit is Gloria Larson.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Gloria, Yes, yes, she's.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Working with you. The prior executive director who ran into
some choppy waters, let's put it like that, was David Gibbons.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
He's no longer there, Yes, So Gloria Larson was incredibly
you know, helpful to our audit team in ensuring that
we got the documents that we were requesting and that
the audit process went smoothly. That's not always the case
in every agency. Audits aren't that easy for some folks
(12:20):
to participate in. But this process went smoothly thanks to
the new and Derman executive director. So you know, our
audit team was thankful for that. But one of the
other things that we did find Dan that I didn't
get to mention, was we actually found that and this
is something very near and dear to me. As I
already mentioned, I talked about an NDA that was executed
(12:40):
years ago, over ten years ago, when I was a
younger woman in my twenties. That that was over ten
years ago. That was for a six week severance package,
and it was to cover sexual harassment occurring at the
state House. What I uncovered in this most recent audit
of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority alongside my audit team
(13:01):
was the unlawful execution of a taxpayer funded, one point
two million dollar taxpayer funded non disclosure agreement that concealed
allegations of racial discrimination and retaliation at our Convention Center authority.
(13:23):
So we went from over ten years ago a six
week severance package sexual harassment at the state House, in
action occurring for the last ten plus years, even though
this issue was repeatedly raised to the legislature, repeatedly raised
to the previous administration, and now we're in a situation
(13:43):
in twenty twenty four where we now have a one
point two million dollar taxpayer funded non disclosure agreement concealing
allegations of racial discrimination and retaliation. That is unacceptable. We
are going backwards in on this issue regarding transparency, accountability,
and also abuse of our taxpayer dollars and the silence
(14:06):
saying of potential victims of harassment, discrimination, abuse, or anybody
who may have seen something that is an illegal activity
in a state entity. We need to take action. It
is absolutely unacceptable that we continue to allow year after
a year with no action being taken on this issue.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
The abuse of.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Our tax dollars to silence people about inappropriate and even
illegal activities.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
So these so these NDAs in which taxpayers, taxpayer money
is used to silence victims, to cover up the activities
of state officials, taxpayer money is used. You want, as
I understand that Governor Healey by executive order to outlaw
(14:54):
the use of NDAs, is that within Is that within
her scope of authority?
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Yes it is. And I actually had never thought about
it from that perspective before. But recently I was called
and told through my office that I was going to
be acting governor for short since on Tuesday when everybody
was gone at the convention. And subsequently had looked into,
(15:23):
you know, some of the good things one would be
able to do in the position of acting governor. That
could you know, bring bring some attention to an issue
of importance and do some good you know, and and
we'll say, get into some good trouble. Right. So I
looked into some of the you know options, and you know,
(15:45):
I had folks calling saying, you know, you need to
sign an executive order to do this or do this
or do that. I said, you know, all the respects,
thank you. You know, an administration could just as easily
rescind an executive order. It's this second big at home
as quickly as it was signed. Right, And that's not
that's not a way to make meaningful progress.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
We have an elected governor, we have an elected lieutenant governor.
But I did have the opportunity to think about, you know,
from an acting governor's perspective. So I thought, you know,
what I could raise awareness about and highlight that was
important to me, important to the causes that I've worked on,
and important to the communities that I've represented, not just
(16:29):
now but through the years that I've been working up
at the State House. And you know, we had just
been working on that audit of the Convention Center authority.
This issue was fresh on my mind while I was
getting asked what I was planning to highlight, and I
ended up, you know, looking into the option of drafting
(16:49):
an executive order and if that would you know, potentially
resolve some of these challenges in our state agencies. And
I found that it is possible to do that iministration
ten indeed, issue an executive order to prevent the abuse
of taxpayer dollars in going towards funding these non disclosure agreements.
(17:12):
To conceal these illegal activities. So I drafted that proposal.
You may have heard I didn't get to serve ex
acting governor, but that's okay. I appreciated the experience and
the opportunity of getting to think about this issue from
a different perspective, because the result was that I got
to work. We drafted an executive order, and we presented
(17:34):
it for the governor's consideration and the Lieutenant governor's consideration.
And I am strongly urging the governor and our team
to take a look at that executive order draft, you know,
when they get their next chance. It is incredibly important
that we've taken action again. We've been going backwards. Not
time to make progress.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
We will keep our eye on that. What am I
going to do is I got to take a news
break and then we come back. I also want to
talk about the ballot question, about your desire to audit
the legislature and why that's important. And I also want
to ask people and invite people to call six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty six one seven, nine, three, one ten thirty.
Not often do you have the opportunity to talk with
(18:17):
one of the state constitutional officers. State auditor. The Auditor
of the Comwealth of Massachusetts, Diana Dezaglio is here. As
you can see, she has many ideas. If you have
a question or comment, I want to encourage her. She
believes that sunshine is the greatest disinfectant and as I believe,
(18:39):
and she is a breath of fresh air at the
State House. We'll be back on Nightside with a conversation
about the ballot question and also you have questions and comments,
I'd love to hear from you back on Nightside with
the State Auditor.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray and Boston's News Radio,
just as.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
The State Auditor of the come Wealth of Massachusetts, and
there is there are five ballot questions on the November ballot.
Question Number one basically is asking us, the voters, to
give the state Auditor, Diana de Zaglio, the authority to
(19:21):
audit the state legislature. This is a big, big question.
Tell us why, auditor.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Well, for anybody who's followed recent happenings in our state legislature,
state legislature had a really challenging time getting things across
the finish line, you know, issues being taken up in
the middle of the night. Climate change, legislation not getting passed,
economic development bill getting left on the table, amongst other
(19:51):
really important issues to Massachusetts residents who were relying on
the legislature to do their jobs and to do their
jobs in a kindly fashion, that did not occur. The
legislature has been having a challenging time with getting things
done in a timely fashion for many years now, but
I think this year that was really put on display
(20:14):
in a very salient way for Massachusetts residents to be
able to see clearly that this is not the way
the Massachusetts legislature is supposed to be operating, especially not
dan in a state like Massachusetts. In Massachusetts we leave
on so many issues. But here in Massachusetts, our state
legislature is continually ranked by almost every good government group
(20:38):
as the least transparent, the least accessible, the least accountable
state legislature in the entire nation. It is not subject
to public records laws, not subject to open meeting laws.
Bills are able to get passed in the middle of
the night when no one's wat There has been a
(21:02):
cloak of darkness over the State House for far too long,
and this year we have an opportunity to vote on
one issue that will help to shine a light on
some of the dark areas in our state legislature. And
that is Question one. Question one is asking all of
(21:23):
you who are listening at home, to please give the
Office of State Auditor the explicit authority to audit the
state legislature. They are the only state entity who is
refusing to recognize what current law already states, which is
(21:45):
that the Office of State Auditor is to audit all
state departments, offices, activities. They are claiming that they believe
they're exempt because they make their own rule rules, and
they don't think that they're subject to the same laws
as everybody else is, as every other state entity is.
(22:07):
We had one hundred and seventeen times that we have
found through our history that the state legislature actually has
been audited by the Office of State Auditor. It actually
was always audited by our office, since their office is
inception it's creation in eighteen forty nine, at which time
(22:28):
audits of the legislature started happening, and they happened very
frequently up until only in recent years legislative leaders decided
to balk at that law and bok at those audits
and decide that they were no longer going to cooperate.
And when I ran for this office, I committed to
(22:51):
the tax paying residents of this Commonwealth that I would
audit the legislature if you sent me to the Office
of State Auditor. I am fulfilling that promise to the voters.
I am currently auditing the legislature, but they are refusing
to even speak with the auditors in my office, never
(23:11):
mind cooperate with their audit. So we have this option
of bringing this to the ballot. It took a lot
of work to get this on the ballot. I want
to thank everybody who helped on this. If you're sitting
at home listening and you are somebody who helped the
goalect signatures, thank you because we've got over one hundred
thousand signatures dan to get this issue on the ballot
(23:35):
so that voters you listening at home, can make it
crystal clear to our state legislature that we expect them
to follow our constitution which calls on them to it
all times, be accountable to we the people, And this
audit of the legislature will ensure increased transparency, increased accountability,
(23:56):
increased successibility. The list goes on it won't solve all
of the problems. Legislators themselves need to take action to
address the toxic culture that does exist within the legislature.
But this issue will at least give us some insight
into the finances and give us insight into some of
(24:17):
the processes and procedures and some of the breakdowns that
need to be addressed. I cannot do this without you.
Please vote yes on one Bring on the Sun.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
So if the majority of people in Massachusetts who vote
on November fifth vote yes, that is it. You then
have that ballot approval and the legislature will not be
able to fight you, or will they then try to
go to court and stop you? And what do you
(24:51):
think happens next?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
They could certainly try to fight it, Dan, But I
consistently remind our legislators that if the legislature does fight
this issue, they're not fighting me. They're not fighting the
woman from the fillin who happened to hold this elected
office right now. You know, by the grace of God
and things to you at home for your vote. I
(25:14):
appreciate it, But they're not fighting me. They're not fighting me,
They're fighting all of you. If they choose to fight
this The voters of Massachusetts already made it clear that
they wanted this issue to be They wanted this issue
to be something that was worked on. They wanted this
audit to be done when they went to vote. I
had been very transparent, but this is what I was
(25:35):
going to do if I was elected. I was duly elected.
I am trying to fulfill the will of the voters,
and I am being stone involved. Now there's another opportunity
for us to make crystal clear to legislative leaders how
we feel about this in a much more direct and
explicit manner, which simply just talks about this audit in
(25:57):
and of itself, because they seem to still be confused
about what the law says, uh and about my responsibility
to the taxpayers. I do need voters to go out
and make that crystal clear if I'm going to be
able to do this good work on behalf of taxpayers,
and it is on behalf of taxpayers that we do
(26:18):
this work. Look, all the audits that we conduct, those
all are matters of public records. So whenever we learn
things about these agencies and these entities and these departments,
that means that all of you learn about these things
and I need to say that.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
In my opinion is this is not a partisan issue.
You're a democrat, The legislature is overwhelmingly democratic. All you're
looking to do is to again open up the books.
Sunlight's the greatest disinfectant. One thing you said which I
did not realize, Madam Auditor, and that was that when
was the last time or when or were the leg
(26:59):
was the legislature sure audited on a regular basis? Were
going back twenty years, fifty years, one hundred years.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
The regular audits seemed too so we have as many
records as we could find. A lot of them were buried,
Some of them were in the State House library. Most
of them were actually tucked in the back of the
Auditor's office in some old dusty books that were on
some backshelves. But from what we can find, and I
clarify with that because there could be more information that
(27:29):
comes forward. From what we've been able to find, it
seems as though those regular audits stopped in the early,
very early nineties. There was an it audit that happened
I think in the early two thousands. Actually that was
just of some of their information technology systems. But the
one that actually ended in the early nineties, there was
(27:50):
actually an audit of an issue with a court officer
collecting payments apparently fraudulently within the House of Representatives in
the legislature, and when the issue was raised to the
state's attorney general at that time, the Attorney General referred
the matter to the state auditor and said, this is
(28:12):
a matter for the state auditor to review because it
is a state entity. And he said, I'm the attorney general,
this is the state auditor's purview. Referred to the state auditor.
It was investigated at that time, and fraudulent payments were
found to have been occurring, and that issue was able
to be remedied due to the state auditors audit now
(28:37):
because of their refusal.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
In my opinion, that gives you some pretty good legal precedents.
I have full phone lines and I want to get
to as many callers as I can. My guess is
the state Auditor the Commonwealth, Diane de Zaglio. She is
fighting for transparency. She wants to have the ability to
audit the state legislature. This is not a Republican Democratic
(28:59):
issue Democrat. The legislature is overwhelmingly Democrat. She is a
rebel with a cause in my opinion, Back on Nightside.
If you're on the line, get your questions, you have
comments together quickly because I want to get to as
many of you as possible between now and the ten
o'clock hour. Back with the State Auditor Diana Dezaglio right
after these brief messages.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I'm going to get right to the call. IM going
to ask everybody to be as brief as possible. We
covered a lot of territory tonight. But whatever questions of
comments you have, let's go with Dave in Hudson, New Hampshire.
First up, Dave Coard, Ahad e Rowin State Auditor Diana
do Zauglio. Go ahead, Dave, hey.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
Are doing Thanks for taking my call. Thirteen of the
fourteen unions at the NBTA commuteril have been working under
an expired contract that expired in twenty twenty two. Should
the Commuterial Operate a ciolas be allowed to bid on
the next operator contract if they don't have current remiss
in place what they work force?
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Okay, not sure if that is an area that the
auditor has already over, but she may have an opinion.
Go ahead, Diana.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Yeah, thank you, Dan, and thanks for raising that issue
pertaining to Kiolas. We're actually auditing KYO less contracts right
now for a certain audit period. We're not able to
audit present happening, but we are able to audit things
that have already occurred to try to shine a light
on potential contractual issues, things that should have been in
(30:31):
place that might not have been in place, issues and
challenges that need to be identified so we can prevent
those things from happening moving forward. But couldn't agree more
that we need increased scrutiny overall at the MBTA, where
we've had safety challenge after safety challenge, performance issue after
performance issue. We did recently conduct an audit of a
(30:53):
contract or a private company known as Block by Block
that was actually executed during a loophole period where the
Taxpayer Protection Act was not required to be implemented and
be followed during that time period the contract was executed.
We found significant challenges in the contract and the result
(31:16):
was instructions were not being done in a timely fashion
according to what the agreed upon timeframe was between the
MBTA and the contract provider, and also employees were not
being trained on safety in accordance with the way they
were supposed to be trained to prepare them for going
out into the field, which puts writers at risk, puts
(31:38):
employees at risk, and also risk taxpayer funds as well.
But we did identify those challenges. We made recommendations to
the MBTA and called on them to augment their performance
to increase their oversights significantly. So did inform them that
it was unacceptable. They have said that they're going to
(31:59):
work to address those challenges that were identified, and we
do continue to audit issues at the MBTA. I will
say that even though we are auditing the Keyless contract
right now, that we have a lot more work that
we would like to do pertaining the audit. Pertaining to
auditing the MBTA, I have requested repeatedly an audit unit
(32:23):
for the MBTA and transportation in Massachusetts be implemented in
my office, that it be funded, and that audit unit
that I've asked for funding for to be able to
address these constant transportation challenges that we're having in Massachusetts
that has not passed legislative committees. And we've also asked
(32:43):
the administration to weigh in and to support us on this,
and we haven't received support for that proposal from the
administration yet. So if you're interested in more audits and
more oversight of the MBTA, please call your legislators and
call the administration and ask them to support that MBTA
audit unit that our office has been requesting to make
sure that we can consistently do that work instead of
(33:06):
just having to based on limited resources, do these one
and done audits that can only focus on a few
issues at a time.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
All right, Dave, thank you for the call. I hope
that answers your question. I also want to make it
very clear you can't talk about audits that you may
be in the process of conducting, and I understand it
that you will be looking at the expenses in the
state has expanded for the shelter for migrants coming into
(33:36):
the state, which is now about two billion dollars, and
particularly some of the contracts that are characterized as no
bid contracts.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
That you will Yeah, we are conducting. Yes, we are
currently conducting an audit of housing across Massachusetts, including examining
the emergency shelter system. And you are correct, while we're
not allowed to discuss an ongoing audit in detail. What
I can say is that all of that information will
be made available as a matter of public record for
(34:06):
anyone who's interested, and we will certainly be sharing our
findings with everybody as soon as that other reques.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
I want to have you back that when that's completed.
Let me try to get one or maybe two calls
in quickly, Michael and Amesbury. Michael, you'll have to stay
to auditor Diana de Zogla. You go right ahead, Michael.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
Thanks Dan. It's unbelievable how much of our tax dollers
are being used her non disclosures across government. Why is
this still happening?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Great question, Yeah, that's quick answer, if you can go ahead,
all right.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yeah, I mean, I'll try to keep it short. Dan,
I will tell you Michael first, thanks for calling in
on this. It's it's incredibly an important issue. Look, for
years as a legislator, I was fighting to ban the
abuse of tax dayer dollars from going towards funding these
non disclosure agreements, and we made, you know, some small
(34:58):
strides the Senate ban these taxpayer funds from going towards
non disclosure agreements and the Senate. Actually, while I was
a state Senator, we repeatedly, unanimously and in a bypartisan fashion.
I might add, all the Republicans and all the Democrats
joined in passing the legislation that I filed to ban
these agreements across state government. That unfortunately was not a
(35:23):
welcome notion to the House of Representatives, nor was it
a welcome notion to the previous administration, who repeatedly stated
that they supported the state government's ability to use your
tax dollars to fund the silencing of people in state government.
(35:45):
So the pushback from some incredibly powerful people on Beacon
Hell is really what's behind the reason why this sit
and passed? Might ask, why would anybody push against this? Well,
it might have something to do with the fact that
the House of Representatives alone has executed at least thirty
three agreements that we know about, but refuse to tell
(36:06):
us what they were for, how much was spent on them,
and they refuse to make the meaningful reforms that are
necessary to prevent those agreements from being abused moving forwards.
So it is some of these powerful politicians who are
the ones who want to be able to continue to
use these agreements to potentially benefit themselves, their friends, other
(36:29):
people that they are politically connected with. So you know,
it might be the case that they don't want to
pass these reforms because they would be passing these reforms
and impacting their own ability to use these agreements.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Well said Diana, This has been a great hour and
I think you have shown the light shine, the light
of sidlight in so many areas. Please continue to do
this work, Michael, thank you for your call. Those of
you on the line, stay there and I will talk
to you and try to get to your questions after
(37:04):
the ten o'clock news. But it is well passed the
order to spend time. Thanks for spending an hour with us,
and let's do it again, Okay, Dan, I.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
Just want to say thank you so much. Thank you
to all of the folks tuning in. Please stay in touch,
send along your request to the Auditor's office. We'd love
to hear from folks in our communities and love you
all very much. Have a great night. Thanks again, and
we will.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Totally support you. You have my personal support. I know
I will be voting yes on ballot question number one,
trust me on that.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
Ess On one, Bring on the Sun all right, I
love the slogan.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
I love the slogan. Thanks again, State auditor die In
die zactly. We will be back right after the ten
o'clock news if you're on the line, if you'd like
to comment on what you had to say, great, And
then we have some other topics we want to get
to as well, back after the ten o'clock news on
night Side
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