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Audit of Settlement Agreements and Confidentiality Clauses Across Multiple State Agencies - Appendix F

The Following Are Communication Between the Office of the State Auditor and the Office of the Governor Referenced in Our Audit Report.
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1. Communication between the Office of the State Auditor and the Office of the Governor regarding access to records of the prior administrations19

This is an email from the Office of the State Auditor to the Office of the Governor, dated December 11, 2023, regarding a meeting these two offices held to discuss outstanding documents requests from the Office of the State Auditor. In it, the Office of the State Auditor summarizes the outcomes of this meeting, which included information that the Office of the Governor did not conduct a search for the records the audit staff requested and that it would not conduct this search because of concerns regarding s
This is from the body of an email that the Office of the State Auditor sent to the Office of the Governor, dated December 11, 2023. In this part of the email, the Office of the State Auditor expands on its disagreement with the Office of the Governor’s concerns and wrote that it “will initiate steps to compel production of these records in Superior Court.”
This an email from the Office of the Governor to the Office of the State Auditor, dated December 13, 2023, stating that the Office of the Governor has provided documentation related to the one employee settlement agreement from the audit period.
This is an email from the Office of the State Auditor to the Office of the Governor, dated December 14, 2023, asking whether the Office of the Governor verified that it has produced all employee settlement agreements from the audit period to the Office of the State Auditor.
This is an email from the Office of the Governor to the Office of the State Auditor, dated December 19, 2023, stating that the Office of the Governor confirms that it conducted a search for employee settlement agreements from the audit period and found no additional employee settlement agreements from the audit period as of the date of the email.

2. Communication between the Office of the State Auditor and the Office of the Governor regarding access to personnel files

This is from an email from the Office of the State Auditor to the Office of the Governor, dated November 22, 2024. This section is a notice that the email came from a sender outside of the Commonwealth’s mail system.
This is from the body of an email from the Office of the State Auditor to the Office of the Governor, dated November 22, 2024. This section of the email states that the Office of the Governor’s assertations that it provided all records of employee settlement agreements to the Office of the State Auditor have been included in the audit report. It goes on to state that some documentation the Office of the State Auditor requested from other executive agencies was not always provided by those agencies.
This is from the body of an email from the Office of the State Auditor to the Office of the Governor, dated November 22, 2024. This section of the email states that the Office of the State Auditor engaged the Office of the Attorney General with regards to notifications to individuals regarding their personnel records, the necessity of which the Office of the State Auditor and the Office of the Governor disagreed about.
This is from the body of an email from the Office of the State Auditor to the Office of the Governor, dated November 22, 2024. This section of the email states that the Office of the State Auditor strongly disagrees with the Office of the Governor’s position and states that the Office of the State Auditor is open to discuss the matter.
This is an email from the Office of the Governor to the Office of the State Auditor, dated December 5, 2024. The email states that the Office of the Governor, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services plans to send notifications to “impacted personnel” to allow those individuals the opportunity to object to the review of the requested records.
This is from the body of an email from the Office of the State Auditor to the Office of the Governor, dated November 22, 2024. This section of the email states that the Office of the State Auditor strongly disagrees with the Office of the Governor’s position and states that the Office of the State Auditor is open to discuss the matter.
This is an email from the Office of the Governor to the Office of the State Auditor, dated December 5, 2024. The email states that the Office of the Governor, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services plans to send notifications to “impacted personnel” to allow those individuals the opportunity to object to the review of the requested records.
This is an email from the Office of the Governor to the Office of the State Auditor, dated December 5, 2024. The email states that the Office of the Governor, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services plans to send notifications to “impacted personnel” to allow those individuals the opportunity to object to the review of the requested records.
This is the generalized text of the notification that the Office of the Governor, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services sent to individuals whose personnel records were requested for review during the audit. The notification references Section 2(k) of Chapter 66A of the Massachusetts General Laws and states that the individuals must make a notification if they wish to quash the request for the
This is an email from the Office of the State Auditor to the Office of the Governor, dated December 6, 2024. In this email, the Office of the State Auditor states that its access to records is not subject to the notifications required by Chapter 66A of the Massachusetts General Laws.
This is an email from the Office of the State Auditor to the Office of the Governor, dated December 6, 2024. In this email, the Office of the State Auditor states that its access to records is not subject to the notifications required by Chapter 66A of the Massachusetts General Laws.
This is the signature section of an email from the Office of the State Auditor to the Office of the Governor, dated December 6, 2024.
This is an email from the Office of the Governor to the Office of the State Auditor, dated December 6, 2024. The email states that the notification letters referenced in previous emails have already been sent to individuals and that the Office of the State Auditor may access records for individuals who do not request to quash the request on December 19.

3. Communication between the Office of the State Auditor and the Office of the Governor regarding notification letters made

This is part one of two of a letter from the Office of the State Auditor to the Office of the Governor, dated December 16, 2024, regarding actions the Office of the Governor took to notify personnel members that their files were randomly requested as part of the audit. The Office of the State Auditor stated that it is “disappointed with [the Office of the Governor’s] approach that has unnecessarily disrupted the lives of these active and former public servants. [The Office of the State Auditor is] auditing
This is part two of two of the letter from the Office of the State Auditor to the Office of the Governor, dated December 16, 2024. The full letter is summarized in the alternative text to part one.

19.    In accordance with Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards, individual names have been redacted.

Date published: January 28, 2025

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