Editor’s Note: The following is the prepared text of the speech Anthony Amore, Republican candidate for State Auditor of Massachusetts, delivered to delegates at the Massachusetts Republican State Convention in Springfield, Mass. on Saturday, May 21.
Chairman Lyons, National Committeewoman Fogarty, National Committeeman Kaufman, Delegates, honored guests,
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.
It’s a great honor for me to have been nominated for State Auditor before you by my good friends Kevin O’Connor and Amy Carnevale, both of whom have brought intelligence and esteem to our party.
I come before you today, my fellow Republicans, to seek your nomination as your candidate for Auditor of the Commonwealth.
I am running to be an auditor who works for the taxpayers, not the entrenched Beacon Hill elites. Government does its job when it respects the people. That means spending responsibly, living within its means, and no longer tolerating waste, fraud, and abuse.
While the Legislature is on a spending spree, the people of Massachusetts are suffering with historic inflation. A construction worker, who once considered himself middle class, now says he must choose between buying bread or meat. Meanwhile, Beacon Hill continues to spend and won’t return a dime in tax cuts.
People are hurting, and they need elected officials who care about them. I grew up in a working-class family, attended public university, and worked for U.S. Immigration and Homeland Security. I have two wonderful adult daughters of whom I’m immensely proud. With my partner, Leah, we are raising 8-year-old Maxine, a clever girl who loves horses.
What does the future look like for my three girls, and for your children and grandchildren? Will Massachusetts be a better place for them than it was for me at their age? Will they be able to afford to live, work, and raise a family here?
Sadly, I’m not optimistic, but I know we have time to change the future.
The Office of the State Auditor matters. It has extraordinary power to uncover and expose waste, fraud, and abuse in state government. Our state government spends $40 billion annually. You cannot tell me there is no room to wring out some savings. The Auditor can help state government spend wisely and demand less of the taxpayers.
As too few are aware, the Office of State Auditor has been held by the Democrats for more than 80 years. And just as few are aware of what exactly the office actually does.
I do not believe this is a coincidence. I am of the belief that, because the Auditor has for decades been subordinate to the majority party’s power structure on Beacon Hill, we hear very little about what the office does, and even less about what it can do.
Instead, the State Auditor has been quietly maintaining the status quo for state government, doing as little as possible to ensure that no Democrat gets embarrassed or sees their power threatened.
It’s time for that to change.
For decades, Democrats have used the Auditor’s Office for political means. They have shifted their focus depending on what party occupies the Corner Office. They have accepted the role of lapdog from the legislature. And they have even conducted their campaigns from within their own state office.
In short, the fox has been guarding the hen house.
I pledge to you to bring to the office the checks and balances that you expect from the State Auditor.
I pledge to you to be a State Auditor focused on professionalism, not politics.
And I pledge to you to be fair but fearless as I open the books on Beacon Hill.
Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that, “The most dangerous moment for a bad government is when it begins to reform.” In Massachusetts, such reform can only come from a fiscally conservative Republican. I can assure you that every measure of mind and spirit that I possess will be dedicated to this effort.
You will not be surprised to hear that my two Democrat competitors combined have not spent one minute of their lives auditing anything. Worse still, neither has run a large organization. If Auditor was a civil service position, neither of their resumes would get them an interview. Neither is qualified to do anything as Auditor other than abide by the Speaker’s wishes and set their sights on their next career move.
I do not view the Auditor’s office as a steppingstone. This is the very same work that I’ve done for 30 years, both as a federal agent and as an investigator in the private sector. I’ve even written a New York Times bestseller on the topic of fraud. And I’ve run large organizations for decades.
I strongly believe that one of the reasons that governments find themselves under the crushing weight of enormous debt is that too often we elect inexperienced people to executive positions. People who have never had to meet a budget or hire and promote staff are ill-suited for Constitutional Office. And people who have never done an audit are not suited for the role of Auditor.
For this reason, I believe that I present the Commonwealth with a clear choice this November between electing an experienced professional or yet another Democrat in dire need of on-the-job training.
Together, we can accomplish so much. I need your help to win the Office of the State Auditor. If we do, you’ll no longer wonder what it is the Auditor does. I will show you every single day.
I hope you will join me on this important mission.
Thank you very much.
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