Auditor Diana DiZoglio said there were delays and “disagreements” over what documents were needed to complete an investigation into the use of nondisclosure agreements between state agencies, including those led by Gov. Maura Healey.
DiZoglio, a longtime advocate of banning such agreements, said her office has been reviewing their use in state government since July 2023 and has requested 12 years’ worth of documents from various state agencies.
But the investigation, which DiZolgio promised during the election campaign and which covers a broad range of organizations such as public universities, is encountering obstacles, the auditor said.
“It has been a tremendous challenge for us to get access to all the documents we need to complete this report. We have had to contend with delays in state agencies providing the documents we have requested,” she told reporters at the State House.
DiZoglio declined to comment on the specifics of the review, but said her office had at times waited between two and six months for access to documents. She did not initially say which agencies were delaying the release of information, but later said, “Those are the agencies within the executive branch.”
A spokesman for Healey did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Herald.
The auditor said she had “recently” met with Healey, who expressed her intention to “help ensure that we receive timely access to our documents.”
“She has asked me and our general counsel to let us know when there are delays on certain issues so that together we can ensure that the governor’s office stays in touch with the appropriate state agencies to make sure we don’t have to deal with these delays as often,” DiZoglio said.
A day after her office released an investigation into the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority that found “troubling and unlawful practices,” DiZoglio expressed frustration with the state agency’s scrutiny.
The report alleged that the agency – which oversees the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, The Lawn on D, the Hynes Convention Center, the MassMutual Center and the Boston Common Garage – violated state law when it signed a $1.2 million nondisclosure agreement that concealed “allegations of racial discrimination.”
Representatives of the congress center management stated that the actions had taken place under the previous management.
A separate agency investigation published in October 2023 found that black employees tended to “feel isolated or excluded.”
“Even when employees of color complain about promotions or other employment decisions, senior management rarely understands or even considers the potential underlying racial impact of that dissatisfaction,” the report said.
DiZoglio also proposed an executive order Tuesday that would ban the use of non-disclosure agreements and confidentiality clauses in state-drafted settlement agreements, a move she said would help speed up her investigation into their use by state agencies.
“The use of settlements or nondisclosure agreements by the State of Massachusetts and its entities may conceal from the public, and thus from public accountability, misconduct by state agencies, their managers, employees, contractors, or others,” the proposed order states.
DiZoglio issued the order on the morning she was scheduled to take office as acting governor while Healey, Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll and Secretary of State Bill Galvin were out of state to attend the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
But Driscoll changed her plans and postponed her departure to Illinois until Galvin returned to Massachusetts on Tuesday afternoon, DiZoglio said.
DiZoglio said she would not have signed the executive order if she had become acting governor. She told reporters that it “would not have been an opportunity to make meaningful and positive change and enable an administration to come home and find a signed executive order.”
“If this was the previous administration, I probably would have very seriously considered signing this proposal if I had been acting governor during the previous administration,” she said. “The previous administration repeatedly and consistently opposed any reforms to the misuse of taxpayer funds and the use of these non-disclosure agreements, despite years of trying to work with them.”
