Katie Castellani
State House News Service

Auditor Diana DiZoglio is once again asking for the court’s permission to hire her own legal representation. This time, it’s to secure defense to dispute the attorney general’s motion to quash DiZoglio’s lawsuit against legislative leaders.

On Feb. 19, Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office filed a motion to strike DiZoglio’s lawsuit that seeks to compel lawmakers to comply with a 2024 voter law authorizing her office to audit the Legislature and to allow for a special assistant attorney general (SAAG) to represent her office. Campbell was granted permission to intervene in DiZoglio’s lawsuit as a defendant alongside House Speaker Ron Mariano, Senate President Karen Spilka, and the House and Senate clerks. The AG's office also lodged the House and Senate's official responses to DiZoglio's court filing.

In a motion filed Wednesday, DiZoglio argues that because Campbell took a side in the auditor’s case against legislative leaders, the court "can and should order that a SAAG be appointed to represent the State Auditor and public interest on this matter." The auditor’s motion asks for more time to respond to Campbell’s move to strike the lawsuit so a SAAG can be appointed to respond on her behalf to the attorney general and legislative leaders’ motion.

“Both the filing and substance of the Attorney General’s Motion to Strike are evidence of her adversarial posture that precludes and disqualifies her from representing the State Auditor’s interests in this matter,” DiZoglio’s office said in the motion. “There can be no dispute that a conflict exists between the interests of the State Auditor and those of the Attorney General and defendants ... In this instance, such a conflict exists whereby the Attorney General’s obligations to represent the State Auditor and the public interest are “directly adverse” and “materially limited” by her defense of her own authority, representation of the defendants, and responsibilities to other state agencies in violation of Rule 1.7(a) of the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct.”

DiZoglio filed the lawsuit with the state's high court earlier this month. Top lawmakers have continued to cite constitutional concerns in their opposition to an audit and Campbell has said her office has not received enough information from the auditor to decide whether to bring a suit against legislative leaders.

Campbell argued in her motion that her office is a legal “gatekeeper” charged with deciding when disputes between branches of government require court intervention. Campbell’s office did not immediately respond to the News Service’s request for comment on DiZoglio’s latest motion.