Sued for blocking the voter-approved audit of the state Legislature, Senate President Karen Spilka is opening up on her resistance, arguing that Auditor Diana DiZoglio is trying to act like a monarch.

State Rep. Danielle Gregoire, a fellow Framingham Democrat, is also taking heat for defending Spilka and the Legislature’s blockage of the audit that 72% of Bay Staters approved 16 months ago.

A feisty exchange ensued at Framingham City Hall this week when the city’s state delegation appeared in front of the City Council. The legislative audit, at the center of a lawsuit that DiZoglio filed against Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano, inevitably came up.

Councilor Michael Cannon asked the lawmakers how the Legislature could improve after the Society of Professional Journalists late last month named Massachusetts the recipient of the 2026 Black Hole Award, “recognizing … a troubling lack of transparency and disregard for the public’s right to know.”

The SPJ cited “deficiencies in the state’s public records law” in selecting the Bay State with the “annual dishonor.”

Gregoire responded first, labeling DiZoglio’s new ballot initiative, which seeks to subject the Legislature and the governor’s office to the public records law, as a “continuation of the auditor’s vendetta against the Legislature.”

“I want to make this opportunity perfectly clear: The Legislature is audited every single year, so where’s the audit question? The answer is right here in this binder,” Gregoire said, pointing to a large book filled with various tabs.

The lawmaker added that following the overwhelming approval of the audit, the state Legislature allowed the auditor to select an outside independent firm. But the auditor has not complied, Gregoire said.

Spilka then followed, highlighting that the Senate is audited “every single year” and that Beacon Hill leadership selects from a “certified list of independent recognized auditors.”

“That word ‘independent’ is a very key word here,” the Senate president said. “As Rep. Gregoire said, the auditor’s claims are, I believe, a political audit wanting to prove something.”

Spilka said that both the Senate and House provide the auditor with financial information every year, and that the public can find procurements, contracts, expenditures and salaries on the state Comptroller’s website.

“You will be able to go down to almost paperclips that we buy,” she said, “and again, I don’t know what else is necessary to go through. There’s nothing to hide.”

The responses from Gregoire and Spilka puzzled Cannon, who said that he didn’t ask about the audit and that he wasn’t aware of DiZoglio’s public records ballot question push.

“I guess I don’t understand why the resistance to welcoming the additional set of eyes on the business … you’re doing on behalf of the people of the Commonwealth,” Cannon said. “Why not welcome that?”

Spilka responded that the opposition is mainly due to the belief that DiZoglio would violate the “Separation of Powers Clause and other clauses of the Constitution.”

“They didn’t want a king to happen here in Massachusetts,” Spilka said of the Founding Fathers, “so the executive cannot oversee the Legislature … and that is exactly what we believe the auditor wants to do, insert herself into the doings of the Legislature.”

The exchange ended after Gregoire told Cannon, “I guarantee you that if you ask 10 people out on the street what they voted for when they voted for that ballot initiative, zero of them would get it correctly. And I also would like to say that just because 72% of people vote for something, that doesn’t make it magically legal or constitutional.”

Those remarks gained steam on social media on Friday, when the watchdog Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance posted a video of the snippet.

“Wait so she’s saying the voters are the ignorant ones? Um…” DiZoglio stated in a post in response to the video. “Representative Gregiore—Yes, passing a ballot question into law does indeed and in fact make it law. Your violation of law is what’s unlawful.”

“The AG deemed it constitutional when she vetted the ballot questions,” the auditor added.

This all comes as Spilka and DiZoglio remain fully entrenched in a legal fight before the state Supreme Judicial Court, while cities and towns are discussing whose side they should take.

In February, DiZoglio sued Mariano and Spilka for refusing to comply with the audit. The auditor is asking the SJC to allow her to appoint an outside attorney, as AG Andrea Campbell is representing the top Beacon Hill Democrats.

Siding with legislative leadership, Campbell has claimed that DiZoglio has not answered basic questions on the scope of the legislative audit.

A spokesperson for Maura Healey did not say whether the governor would file an amicus brief with the SJC in support of DiZoglio’s suit.

“Governor Healey has been very clear that she voted for the audit and thinks it should happen,” the spokesperson told the Herald.

At least one Beacon Hill Democrat is supporting DiZoglio’s fight.

State Rep. Alan Silvia, of Fall River, filed an amicus brief, stating that he has a “direct institutional interest in ensuring that the General Court operates within the bounds of law, remains accountable to the electorate, and complies with duly enacted statutes.”