Loathed or loved, state Auditor Diana DiZoglio knows exactly what she’s doing

NORTON — Diana DiZoglio stood in front of a room of seniors at a diner here, casually leaning back on a table and cupping a mug of coffee as she explained the idiosyncrasies of her obscure statewide office.

But soon, what was billed as an informational chat with Massachusetts’ state auditor turned political. As the men ate their eggs and toast, DiZoglio detailed the pushback she has faced in trying to audit the state Legislature. She talked about taking Democratic leadership to court and accused the state attorney general of pursuing “stall tactics” to slow her quest.

“Absolute power corrupts,” she said.

“Absolutely!” the room of dozens responded unanimously, quoting the famous English maxim.

Here, in a town represented by Republicans in the Massachusetts House, DiZoglio’s strengths were on display: She’s good at working a small room, she transcends political party lines, and she can make a winning issue out of railing against the political insiders with whom she shares the Democratic ticket.

She is also perceived as controversial, divisive, and, in some legislative offices, loathed. Her critics view her as driven by ambitions for higher political office or an ulterior motive. And yet, she is all but assured to cruise to reelection, with no Democratic or Republican opponents attempting to challenge an incumbent who, in aparadoxical twist, has no shortage of political enemies.

“The party establishment does not like the fact that what I am doing has drawn support from Republicans, Libertarians, and also fellow Democrats who want to change the status quo,” said DiZoglio, who’ll address her critics and fans alike this Saturday at the Massachusetts Democratic State Convention in Worcester. “That’s what the controversy is: Some people … don’t want things to change because the results we are delivering threaten their power.”

DiZoglio, a Methuen Democrat, has bucked the status quo for years. As a state representative in 2018, she violated her own nondisclosure agreement when she discussed being fired as a legislative aide amid innuendo and what she described as harassment.

She’s targeted Massachusetts House leaders and criticized the head of her own party. She has performed multiple songs about the audit effort at political events. She has openly feuded with the attorney general, also a Democrat.

In 2024, when it appeared she might temporarily serve as acting governor, she drafted her own executive order prohibiting nondisclosure agreements in the executive branch.

It’s an image she leans into. When calling DiZoglio on her cell phone, those with an iPhone will see a photo pop up of the auditor holding a novelty mug that reads: “In my defense, I was left unsupervised.”

“Everyone has their base, and she’s found her base,” said Gus Bickford, a veteran political operative who led the Massachusetts Democratic Party from 2016 to 2023. “She’s been successful.”

What that base is, is … well, unusual for a statewide Democratic incumbent. Inside the convention hall at the state Republican Party gathering, the word “audit” made it into virtually every speech, even though the party doesn’t have a nominee for the office.

Republicans there even lined up to buy T-shirts boasting giant, bold numbers: “72%,” a reference to the share of support a ballot question giving DiZoglio the legal authority to probe the Legislature got in the 2024 election. On the back, the shirt read: “What are they hiding? Audit the Legi$lature.”

Democratic voters, meanwhile, are still sizing her up. In an April Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll of likely primary voters, about 30 percent said they liked her, and another 30 percent were undecided about her. Another 30 percent still said they had never heard of her, perhaps a reflection of her office’s relative place in political obscurity.

Sara Seinberg, a party delegate and former Democratic town committee chair from Leyden, said DiZoglio seems “awash in retribution” and is “more interested in winning than she is in making change.” But, she said, “I’m willing to ride with her because obviously [the Legislature] has something to hide.”

“I do not like the auditor. I do not trust her,” Seinberg said. “But she’s self-serving on an issue that may push the Legislature to do something that benefits democracy.”

DiZoglio is a regular at local committee meetings, caucuses, and morning meet-ups like the one in Norton. She constantly posts videos and photos on social media: her posing with veterans in Pepperell, performing at a benefit gala at Encore Boston Harbor, dropping the puck at a charity hockey game.

The work has paid off, politically.

Not a single town or city voted against the legislative audit ballot question she personally pushed. This year, DiZoglio is helping to bankroll a separate ballot question that would expand the state’s public records law to cover the Legislature and the governor, a concept that 84 percent of likely voters said they supported in a November Suffolk/Globe poll.

Still, lawmakers have resisted audits, arguing a probe would violate the constitutional separation of powers between the branches and raise privacy concerns. Attorney General Andrea Campbell had argued that DiZoglio doesn’t have the authority to file the lawsuit. (Campbell has since said DiZoglio could pursue the case with an outside attorney, who is also Campbell’s own 2022 primary opponent, Shannon Liss-Riordan.)

Political watchers say DiZoglio’s rallying cry resonates. While she’s served on Beacon Hill for the lifespan of a Boston Terrier, she’s staved off any insider label because she’s regularly fighting insiders.

“How do you run against her? Are you going to say, ‘I’m going to be a great friend of the Legislature?’” said longtime Democratic political consultant Michael Goldman, who advised DiZoglio’s predecessor, Suzanne Bump. “She was a perfect outsider candidate for a race where no one knows what they really do.”

DiZoglio and her team understood that “it’s always an effective tool to run against the people in power,” Goldman said. “No matter how good they are or how bad they are, people say, ‘It’s time for a change.’”

Some of DiZoglio’s biggest backers are voters with an independent streak who see the auditor’s office as a check on the rest of state government, instead of a constitutional office led by a Democrat.

“When it comes to the auditor, it’s less about political party,” said Roger Marsan, a Norton Select Board member who is an unenrolled voter, “leans conservative,” and voted for DiZoglio. “She represents what’s best for the state … and the state hasn’t been giving what we’re asking for.”

Shannon McMahon, Norton’s assistant town manager, who invited DiZoglio to speak to the seniors, said the auditor has a message that resonates with voters who have a negative view of Beacon Hill. A November Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll found that 49 percent of respondents approved of the job the Legislature was doing.

“It’s an uphill battle, and God bless her, she’s got guts,” said McMahon, a Democrat who said DiZoglio supported her unsuccessful run for Bristol County District Attorney in 2022. “She’s got energy that can’t be matched.”

Sitting lawmakers believe DiZoglio’s quest is overtly political. The audit “has never been about auditing the Legislature,” House Speaker Ron Mariano wrote in an op-ed in March. “It has been about advancing the auditor’s own political ambition.”

“We must assume that the Auditor’s intentions are purely political,” state Senator Cindy Friedman, who chairs a subcommittee formed in response to the audit ballot question, saidin February.

Whispers that she’s primarily motivated to seek higher office — maybe the governor’s suite one day — swirl around political circles.

DiZoglio told the Globe she doesn’t have a “five-year plan,” she has a “this-year plan” to seek reelection.

“Some people say things about me. They call some of the work I’ve done ‘crusade-like,’” she said. “I understand that. The level of hard work I believe is necessary may not look like what someone else’s version of hard work is.”

Regardless of the outcome of her legislative audit fight, she could set herself up to declare a win either way, said Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic political analyst: If DiZoglio loses, she has a riled-up base. And if she wins, well, she gets what she’s publicly pursued for years.

“It’s pretty artful,” Marsh said. “Everyone can loathe her — but she wins.”