Anthony Amore is the Republican candidate for Massachusetts State Auditor in next week’s election. After being unchallenged in his party’s primary, he faces Democratic State Senator Diana DiZoglio. A moderate, Amore has been endorsed by like-minded state Republican heavyweights like outgoing Governor Charlie Baker and former Governor Bill Weld. While the MassGOP has fully embraced former President Donald Trump, Amore has not — leaving him estranged from the party he’s running to represent. WAMC spoke with Amore about running for auditor and his place in Republican politics.
AMORE: It's really important that Massachusetts has checks and balances, and given my 30 years plus of experience in doing audits and investigations, as well as leading large organizations, I'm a perfect fit to provide accountability for the taxpayers of Massachusetts on Beacon Hill this year.
WAMC: I'm interested in your relationship with the rest of the Massachusetts GOP. It's a party that's adopted a very intense tone in recent years, and is glommed on to the pro Trump movement and certainly its gubernatorial candidate, Geoff Diehl, is no exception. He is himself backed by Trump. How do you play into this party? And how do you describe your relationship with the MassGOP?
You know, I focus mainly on my own race, I don't really think about what's going on with the GOP or the other races. I think it's important for a potential auditor to remain neutral and not to take sides in any race. You know, the auditor conceivably would be auditing the next governor's administration in terms of executive branch agency. So, I stay out of those sorts of races. In terms of my own political philosophy, I'm a moderate Republican. I'm socially liberal, but I'm fiscally conservative, and I believe that's the sort of Republican that people of Massachusetts want. That's why Governor Charlie Baker's endorsing me, that's why Governor Bill Weld endorsed me, and Governor Jane Swift, because they know I fit that mold. I'm not into the party politics, I'm into professional services as a government official.
It came out earlier in October that you've had a back and forth with Jim Lyons of the MassGOP about this election and about your relationship to the party. Can you explain that back and forth?
You know, it wasn't so much of back and forth as there was a disagreement about how I would be portrayed on the MassGOP website. I was asked to submit a photo I liked for my campaign, and I submitted a photo of myself with Governor Baker and the party wouldn't accept it. So no photo was posted. But I believe that I should be allowed to provide whatever photo I wish, but more importantly, I just kept moving forward. Sometimes people say there was infighting- I wasn't fighting, I submitted a photo and I moved on and focused on getting my message out to voters, taxpayers in Massachusetts about what really matters, and that is good government and rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in government. So I really see myself as an independent figure who can provide that sort of leadership on Beacon Hill.
Looking at Diana DiZoglio, your opponent across the aisle in the race for state auditor- What sets you apart from her beyond your party differences in this competition? What do you feel like you have that DiZoglio does not?
Well, I think any objective person would look at our respective backgrounds and say there's a giant chasm between our levels of experience. My opponent has never in her career done anything resembling an audit or an investigation or an inspection. And if you think about her career, it’s been a legislator, and she's never led to anything. She's never had management responsibility over anyone. I've had 30 plus years of directly relatable work to the Office of the Auditor, and I've run major organizations. I had 1,200 federal employees when I was with Homeland Security, and now I have 60 working for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. So when you think about the prospect of electing someone who can do the job on day one and has done the job for decades, or electing Senator DiZoglio who would have to learn the job because she has no experience in the area. I think the choice is clear, and the differences are apparent.
Let's say you win the race for auditor. What's on your day one punch list of audits you'd like to perform?
On day one, we will initiate an audit of the auditor's office. And the reason I say that is because we've found through the current auditor’s own words that almost a third of state agencies don't get audited. The auditor is supposed to look at 100% of them, but is only doing about 70%. And that's really a major shortcoming. That means your listeners should know that a third of the state government is not being audited for waste, fraud, and abuse. That's really, really important. So we will fix the problems that are leading to this deficit, and then we will immediately audit these unaudited agency. So we will make sure that the taxpayers know someone's watching the books, someone's watching the performance, someone's watching out for them.
Democratic candidate Chris Dempsey, who failed to win the primary for this race, brought up auditing the Massachusetts State Police in his campaign after a pretty tumultuous decade within the state police here in Massachusetts. Any thoughts on that concept? Any interest in taking a look at the operations of the State Police?
Statutorily, I would have to. I mean, you need to look at every state agency and the state police would be one of them. I would be looking at them with a wide-open eye after talking to stakeholders and talking to people in the know about where they see existing, glaring problems. So, not necessarily just looking at what have been problems in the past, but also saying, hey, what else is going on right now that needs review. And it could be anything, it could be a number of things. But I want to make sure you're talking to constituencies and stakeholders and making sure your targeted audits are maximized for the benefit of the taxpayer.
Court documents from your divorce in 2009 entered the news cycle, including allegations from your ex-wife alleging emotional and verbal abuse, claiming that you shoved her and threatened revenge, and that she also got a restraining order against you. Do you want to speak to that situation?
Well, you know, I've said almost everything that could be said about it. But for the benefit of your audience, I want to make very clear- This was a weekend long, temporary order and the minute I could see a judge on Monday morning, first thing, within minutes, literally minutes, the judge dismissed any restraining orders. So, there was, once I had my say and get got to speak to the judge, it was dismissed. Every issue related to claims made during my divorce were adjudicated in my favor. So, I think that's where it's really important. It's really most importantly, though, very unfortunate that my opponent saw fit to bring my family issues from 13 years ago into the public fore, in a political election that has nothing to do with the matters, but it's important for your listeners to know I was completely vindicated.
Lastly, should you win this election Anthony, you'd be basically one of the few top-ranking Republicans in the state with the end of the Baker era. What does that mean for you? And what does it mean for your party that it seems like there's this major tectonic shift happening from the moderate days of the Baker administration to the farther to the right Diehl era of the MassGOP?
Well, you know, I know for a fact that the people of Massachusetts don't want extremes on either end, Democrat or Republican. And that's why Governor Baker endorsed me, because I don't represent that. I think the voter can be assured by the endorsements I have that I would provide this moderate, good government view. And I think ultimately people will appreciate that, know that there's some constructive friction on Beacon Hill presented by me as a Republican in the auditor's office, and feel assured that there's some checks and balances, and I think it will look favorably upon the Republican party going forward.
