Why Mass. Question 1 will never end
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Election Day won't be the end of the debate over Question 1, the ballot measure on whether the state auditor should have the authority to examine some of the Legislature's spending.
Why it matters: Even if the measure passes by a considerable margin, lawmakers plan to put up a fight to stop Auditor Diana DiZoglio from peeking into the backrooms and ledgers they consider private.
- Legislative leaders have maintained from the start that the auditor, a member of the executive branch, would be violating the state constitution by policing the legislative branch.
What they're saying: "Even if Question 1 prevails on Election Day, that will not cure the constitutional defect in the auditor's initiative," House Speaker Ron Mariano's spokesperson Ana Vivas told Axios.
By the numbers: In a September poll from MassINC, the latest we have on the question, a whopping 70% of voters said they'd vote for audits of the Legislature.
- Only 8% backed the "no" side.
- 22% said they didn't know or refused to answer. Even if every one of those without a preference voted "no," the ballot measure would win in a landslide.
If Question 1 passes, Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka have a few options to stall or kill it.
- They can deny DiZoglio access to their books and bring the newly minted law to the courts to sort it out. It's that branch's job to determine what's constitutional, after all.
Or Spilka and Mariano could simply use their Democratic supermajorities in both chambers to repeal the new law that was just put on the books.
- There's nothing special about laws created via ballot measure — they can be altered or repealed like any other statute.
Flashback: Repealing or hobbling a law freshly sanctioned by a large majority of voters could have political ramifications for lawmakers, but they've tweaked ballot measures before.
- The 2016 cannabis legalization act was carefully rewritten by lawmakers before any dispensaries were allowed to open.
- A 1998 act to finance state political campaigns was never fully implemented before the Legislature simply removed it from law in 2003.
The intrigue: A repeal or heavy-handed rewrite would also put Gov. Maura Healey in a tight spot.
- She could go along with her Democratic colleagues and sign the repeal or stand with the will of voters and veto it.
- That would set up an epic veto override vote where lawmakers would have to double down on their choice to overrule the voters about who gets to see how they conduct their business.
The bottom line: Mariano and Spilka aren't going to simply turn over their spending ledgers to DiZoglio on Nov. 6.
- It'll be a long fight in the courts, or the halls of the State House, before there's a resolution.