Massachusetts Democrat leaders resist the will of the voters
By Jeffrey T. Kuhner
What are they afraid of? That is the question.
In the November 2024 election, Massachusetts voters in a landslide voted to audit the state legislature – its spending, budget, financing and procurement process. Nearly 72% of voters—Republicans, Democrats and independents—passed the Ballot Question 1 initiative. In particular, an overwhelming majority of voters gave a clear mandate to Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio to conduct oversight and impose transparency on Beacon Hill and its profligate spending.
So what’s the problem? DiZoglio has a voter mandate to audit what Beacon Hill is really doing with our taxpayer dollars. If you support accountability and transparency—and, of course, democracy—this should be a no-brainer. But it isn’t. State Democratic leadership is balking, rabidly resisting any kind of audit by DiZoglio.
Gov. Maura Healey, House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka—all of them are refusing to comply with the will of the voters. They are stonewalling DiZoglio, falsely claiming that an audit is “unconstitutional” and violates the “separation of powers.” Making matters worse, state Attorney General Andrea Campbell is not doing her job and refuses to enforce the voter-mandated independent audit.
The reason is obvious: The Democrats know an audit will expose massive corruption on Beacon Hill. The state audit is the Massachusetts version of DOGE—it will uncover billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse. In fact, like DOGE, it would create a crisis for the Commonwealth’s venal political establishment. If taxpayers knew just how much of their hard-earned money has been misspent, stolen, wasted and misappropriated, it would destroy the Democratic Party—even in deep blue Massachusetts.
This is why Healey and her fellow Democrats are fighting tooth and nail to block the audit. They know sunlight is the best disinfectant; and real oversight and transparency would uncover their crimes and abuse of power. Hence, they are pathetically trying to hide behind a ridiculous constitutional veneer.
The taxpayers, however, have every right to know how their money is being spent and to where and who it is going to. For Democrat leaders to claim this is somehow unconstitutional is an insult to both taxpayers and voters. Audits of state and local governments—including now the federal government due to DOGE—are routinely done across the country. What’s so special about Massachusetts that allows Beacon Hill politicians to operate in the dark with no accountability or public transparency?
For decades, Democrats have run Massachusetts like a one-party state. With little to no real opposition, they have become fat, lazy, complacent, corrupt, and obsessed with power. It is now their arrogance and hubris that threatens to bring them down. They have created a sanctuary state, forking out billions of dollars to illegal aliens in taxpayer-subsidized housing, welfare, free healthcare, education and direct cash payments. Moreover, the state budget this year will be over a staggering $61 billion. Crooked politicians on Beacon Hill have given themselves huge pay increases, while providing untold sums of money in no-bid contracts to cronies and hacks. It’s become a license to steal.
Only take a look at state Rep. Christopher Flanagan. The Dennis Democrat was recently arrested on federal corruption charges. This included an alleged years-long scheme to defraud a Cape Cod trade association of tens of thousands of dollars to bankroll both personal and political expenses. Prosecutors also allege Flanagan set-up fake personas to cover his tracks, while he stole vast sums of money to finance his political campaign and lied to regulators and falsified documents.
It’s no surprise Flanagan is another Democrat, who opposes the audit. Healey, Mariano, Spilka and Campbell are hell-bent on protecting Beacon Hill insiders and grifters such as Flanagan. The cold, hard truth is that Flanagan is not the exception. He is the norm. The Massachusetts Legislature is full of Chris Flanagans—con artists and corrupt politicians who are lining their pockets (and that of their donors) with our money. An independent state audit will break this den of thieves wide open.
Yet, the local media will not cover this huge scandal, and the Massachusetts Republican RINO establishment is useless. The fact is that the rampant corruption in Massachusetts has been enabled by a compliant, rabidly partisan media class and a cowardly GOP, which refuses to offer serious resistance.
Hence, it is up to the voters to take their legislature, government and state back. This is why I will be speaking at a huge rally on the steps of the State House in front of Boston Common on Saturday, May 17 from 10:00-11:00 am EST. The rally will be open to voters of all political persuasions. This peaceful protest is not simply about a state audit and public transparency, but of upholding democracy itself. Our political elites believe they are above the law—and the will of the people.
For this to change, the natives must start getting restless and demand that our voice be heard. The politicians on Beacon Hill work for us. We don’t work for them. It’s time they learned this lesson.
-Jeffrey T. Kuhner is host of “The Kuhner Report” on WRKO AM-680 in Boston. His daily show airs 6-10 am EST. He can be reached at: JeffreyKuhner@iheartmedia.com
- Photo courtesy of Olivier Le Moal / iStock / Getty Images