Plans for a rare probe of the Massachusetts state legislature are in dispute after the Speaker of the House rejected the new state auditor's claim that she has the authority to conduct the review. Auditor Diana DiZoglio, a former member state representative and senator, made auditing the legislature a campaign promise, and in an exclusive interview with 5 Investigates’ Karen Anderson, explained that she wants to audit the legislature in order to provide more transparency and accountability.House Speaker Ron Mariano replied to DiZoglio in a letter on Friday, which rejected DiZoglio's plan as "unconstitutional." The letter was made public shortly after Mariano visited the NewsCenter 5 studio in Needham to record an exclusive interview for Sunday's episode of On The Record. Mariano said he believed DiZoglio was overreaching. "We operate independently and we're judged on what we do. I don't need someone with a political agenda, who's in the Executive Branch, passing judgment on me," Mariano told OTR. In his letter, Mariano further emphasized the separation of powers in state government. "That your office has the legal authority to conduct an audit of the General Court is a claim entirely without legal support of precedent, as it runs contrary to multiple, explicit provisions of the Massachusetts Constitution, and is wholly unnecessary as the public currently has full and ready access tot he House's financial information," Mariano's letter states. In support of her planned audit, DiZoglio cited the fact that lawmakers on Beacon Hill aren't subject to the public records law, and much of their business is held behind closed doors. She added that business includes negotiations on how tax dollars are spent, what bills are passed, who's leading committees, and even who's getting the best office assignments in the State House.DiZoglio told 5 Investigates the audit could "look at transparency, accountability and equity as it pertains to procurement, as it pertains to the budget, as it pertains to committee assignments."The previous auditor, Suzanne Bump, has said she believed her office didn't have the authority to audit the legislature, but DiZoglio said there’s nothing in the law that prevents the auditor from examining the legislature."If there is resistance, we would have that conversation in court," she said. "But I am again hopeful that the legislature will welcome an opportunity to increase transparency, accountability and equity for residents across the Commonwealth."Video below: DiZoglio announces audit plans to 5 Investigates But Mariano said all of the House's expenditures and accounts are already made public online and that House rules already require an annual, independent audit. "We made our own rules, which we are charged by the constitution to do, and we feel that we're doing more than she would be able to do," Mariano told OTR.Attached to the letter, Mariano included a message from House attorney James C. Kennedy, which also disputes DiZoglio's claim that the House of Representatives was most recently audited in 1922. "This report was not, nor does it reflect, an audit of the House of Representatives," Kennedy wrote. "A close inspection of the 1922 document itself, and of the historical context in which it was produced, makes it clear that this report is merely an accounting of the Commonwealth's revenue, expenses and debt, including those expenses of the Legislature and other branches and departments of the Commonwealth, including the Auditor's office itself."The dispute could set up a meeting in court but Mariano said he hoped DiZoglio would reconsider. "Spending taxpayer money on a campaign promise that may or may not be doable, doesn't make much sense to me," Mariano said.