Bringing a Sense of Common Sense to “The Audit”

To the Editor:

Christine Delisio’s whole campaign for the state house seems to be hinged on criticizing her opponent and not on any established competency in anything.  I can say this because I served alongside her on our Planning Board and witnessed her having opinions—in spite of the facts—and recklessly voting for anything that was more restrictive, rather than well thought out.  

Doing that with zoning only makes the lives of average citizens more cumbersome, expensive and can hinder their property rights.  

She was joined last week with a deceptive letter of support by Susan Wadia-Ells.

The big issue that her supporters seem to think condemns Dru Tarr is that of auditing the State Legislature, something that Dru Tarr has always been a supporter of.  To suggest otherwise is not a statement of fact, but simply a partisan misrepresentation of the truth.

The state audit issue is simpler than it seems.  Everyone supports a financial audit of the Massachusetts Legislature, particularly Dru Tarr.  However, once the poorly worded statewide vote was taken two years ago that started all this controversy, the auditor herself claimed that the vote gave her the right to do much more than conduct a financial audit.  She claimed she could also review how legislation is developed, question employees about private deliberations, oversee how committees are appointed and, to some extent, interfere in pending laws.  THIS is what sparked the alarm and caused the legislature to take a vote to more clearly define the scope of the audit—making it simply a comprehensive financial audit, as it should be.  Something that was not clear in the language of the first vote: Question #1 two years ago.

This whole issue is NOT about people hiding money, or graft, or corruption.  It is not about a Dru Tarr being against transparency, or disregarding the public’s right to know as Wadia-Ells claims.  He has always been in favor of a financial audit, but not in favor of a reckless effort at taking some control of the legislature itself.  That becomes a constitutional question and one that the house voted recently to clarify.  It was not a vote to stop a financial audit or create a lack of transparency.  It simply clarified the scope of the audit.

At their recent debate, Ms. Delisio was asked how she was going to pay for the tax cuts she dreams of.  How are we supposed to feel about someone wanting such a powerful position in our state house if their conceptions are so naïve as to think that auditing the legislature will somehow reveal enough misspent money that the whole state can get a tax cut from it?  The total legislature’s budget is about 90 million dollars while the state spends 60 billion, almost 70 times larger.

In an age where partisanship is severe and lies become the norm, we should be having a more civil discussion of actual issues that Dru Tarr is working hard on, such as housing, health care and helping our local economy.

Gary Gilbert

Manchester