Diana Dizoglio won’t be fazed by auditor’s pick of another

Saturday’s Democratic State Convention yielded about the same degree of excitement as its Republican counterpart.

At the top of the ticket, Attorney General Maura Healey easily secured her party’s endorsement for governor with 71.2% of the delegate vote, about the same as her likely Republican opponent, Geoff Diehl, amassed.

The only real suspense centered around gubernatorial hopeful Sonia Chang-diaz’s ability to gain enough delegate support to qualify for the primary.

The state senator cleared that 15% hurdle with a 28.8% showing.

That outcome should actually suit the Healey camp in its bid to woo unenrolled voters, since Chang-diaz’s socialist agenda makes the attorney general seem mainstream by comparison.

Massachusetts lets unenrolled voters, who comprise more than half of the state’s electorate, participate in party primaries.

No lieutenant governor candidate received 51% of the vote needed to receive the convention’s endorsement.

Kim Driscoll, Salem’s fiveterm mayor, topped the field with 41% of the vote, followed by Acton state Rep. Tami Gouveia and Longmeadow state Sen. Eric Lesser, who both also qualified for the primary ballot

elegates opted not to endorse longtime Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, instead giving the nod to his opponent, attorney Tanisha Sullivan.

That won’t deter Galvin, who’s been shunned by the party before only to easily win the general election.

The most intensely contested primary campaign pits transportation advocate Chris Dempsey against Methuen state Sen. Diana Dizoglio in the race to succeed outgoing state Auditor Suzanne Bump.

Dempsey just edged out Dizoglio, with 53% of the delegates to her 47%, for the party’s endorsement.

Given the questionable value of convention endorsements — from activists representing the party’s extreme left wing — Dizoglio should feel satisfied with her showing, especially since Dempsey’s the departing Bump’s choice for her job.

In May, Bump, who opted not to seek a fourth term, formally endorsed Dempsey.

In a letter to Democratic State Convention delegates, Bump alluded to Dempsey’s experience in the Gov. Deval Patrick administration and his leadership in the campaign that ultimately helped derail Boston’s bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics as reasons to support the Brookline Democrat.

Bump veered from the positive with that clear jab at Dizoglio, who envisions a more activist role in that heretofore mainly administrative post, including an audit of the state Legislature by using what she perceives as the position’s subpoena authority if necessary.

That’s been a bone of some contention leading up to the convention, since Bump contends no such subpoena power exists.

According to state law, if the subject of an audit refuses to provide the auditor’s office with the necessary records, the auditor can seek an order from the Superior Court. The auditor doesn’t have the authority to legally compel testimony or records, but a court order can assist the office in obtaining withheld material.

The much-maligned Registry of Motor Vehicles would also be a likely audit target.

In the wake of the Registry’s bogus road test scandal, Dizoglio called on the Senate to hold an oversight hearing on the RMV’S many missteps.

Following his efforts to help sink Boston Olympics bid, Dempsey worked as vice president at Masabi, a transportation startup that provides mobile ticketing technologies for major transit systems.

Dizoglio has never shied away from a political fight, as evidenced by her campaign to expose legislative leaders’ use of nondisclosure agreements to silence victims of alleged misconduct.

We don’t expect her campaign for the voters’ ultimate endorsement in the Sept. 6 Democratic State Primary will be any different.