State Auditor Diana DiZoglio slammed Gov. Maura Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell over what she says are their efforts to stop an audit of the state Legislature supported by 72% of Massachusetts voters.

In a one-on-one interview with the Boston Herald, DiZoglio detailed how Campbell has directly “conspired” to thwart her efforts into auditing the legislature and other state entities, how Healey has flip-flopped on the issue since being elected governor, and how a “concerning” precedent is being set from the top of state government down in defying official state audits.

“The Attorney General and legislative leaders have conspired to block the will of the people. The Attorney General has been rewarded with a very large increase to her budget that will actually ensure that her office, not just this year, but in the years to come gets millions and millions of dollars extra annually for her discussions behind the scenes with legislative leaders, which have resulted in blocking this audit,” DiZoglio told the Herald. “I would say that I absolutely believe there is public corruption going on between the Attorney General’s office and legislative leaders.”

DiZoglio also says Campbell refuses to represent the Auditor’s office or even allow outside counsel to represent the office.

But DiZoglio is taking GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue up on his offer to pay for outside counsel to represent her office in a lawsuit against legislative leadership over the stalled audit. According to GBH, DiZoglio’s general counsel sent a letter to the attorney general’s office Monday requesting three attorneys from Boston law firm Donnelly, Conroy & Gelhaar be appointed as special assistant attorneys general to represent her.

Campbell and top Democrats on Beacon Hill have raised concerns regarding the constitutionality of a legislative audit. Campbell said last week on GBH that DiZoglio’s office has not provided answers to questions on the scope of the audit, something DiZoglio calls “stall tactics” to allow the lawmakers more time to cover up and destroy documents.

“I hope the auditor stops the standoff,” Campbell said in a Jan. 13 appearance on GBH’s ‘Boston Public Radio’. “Anytime an agency comes to us and asks us to represent them, we ask them a certain amount of questions, they reply, and then we move forward or not. The only agency or constitutional office we have had any issue with since I’ve taken office is the auditor. And it’s not for lack of trying — it’s not for lack of trying to resolve this.”

DiZoglio, who served as a state Rep. and state Senator from 2013-2023, says lawmakers are against an audit because of what she says is the obvious conclusion that there is something to hide. From unethical practices to mismanagement, sexual harassment and more, she says non-disclosure agreements are regularly used to hide this type information from public view.

“If there are things to hide we will be able to see that through an audit. That’s why they don’t want the audit,” said DiZoglio. “I got one given to me when I was a legislative aide a long time ago. I was a young woman in my twenties at the time and I was required [to sign] a taxpayer-funded NDA just to collect my six-week severance package after being harassed in the House of Representatives. I broke that NDA years ago.”

DiZoglio also went after Gov. Healey and what she describes as a lack of support for a legislative audit or her audit into employee settlement agreements at Massport and other state agencies, released last week. She even says the governor has given her the cold shoulder, avoiding speaking to her altogether in an official capacity for over a year now.

“I believe that Governor Healy should support this audit law. Unfortunately, the governor doesn’t really speak with me. She hasn’t really spoken to me about any official business in roughly a year, though she does say hello to me at different events, which is more than I could say about the Speaker and the Senate President,” added DiZoglio. “Unfortunately, Governor Healy has not lent any support. I do hear claims that the governor did vote for this, but I would like it if the governor could come out more strongly in support of this effort.”

She also referenced the over $31,000 contract buyout given to disgraced former Healey aide LaMar Cook, first reported by the Herald, after he was fired for his arrest on cocaine trafficking and firearms charges. DiZoglio says Healey has flip-flopped on the issue of allowing state audits into personnel records of state employees in constitutional offices, like Healey’s.

“My predecessor constantly audited personnel records as part of her audit work. And the now-governor, former Attorney General, Governor Healy never had a problem with these personnel records being reviewed when she was the attorney general. Now that she’s the governor, she believes that personnel records in her administration should be able to be hidden from the Office of State Auditor,” DiZoglio said, adding that Healey stonewalling access to Cook’s personal records, including how he was hired and his background check, sets a “concerning” precedent for future audits across the state.

“And what that means is that our office essentially can’t even audit things like cybersecurity training with public employees. We won’t be able to audit settlement agreement issues. The issue with the gentleman you’re referring to from Western Mass… was an issue pertaining to a settlement of roughly $30,000 that went out that utilized taxpayer funds to pay that, right? I don’t think that anyone, Republican or Democrat, would agree that a circumstance like that doesn’t warrant review by the Office of State Auditor and other entities,” she said.

Some critics of DiZoglio’s efforts say she is only pursuing an audit of the Legislature to settle scores in a “personal vendetta.”

“Its a distraction from the fact that they’re law breaking. They don’t want to talk about the fact that they’re breaking the law that 72% of us voted for, so they hurl personal insults at me individually. But it’s not one woman from Methuen who is upset about this, it’s 72% of Democrats, Republicans, Independents and everybody in-between who are upset that they lawmakers of this Commonwealth themselves don’t want to follow the law,” she said.

Both the Attorney General’s Office and Gov. Healey’s Office have not responded to requests for comment.

State Auditor Diana DiZoglio speaks to the Herald from her office at the State House. (Staff photo by Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)