State Sen. Diana DiZoglio is questioning Gov. Charlie Baker’s claim — that he only uses secret silencing settlements when a sexual harassment victim requests it — because he has refused to produce documentation to back it up.

“If you were telling the truth, you would produce the proof,” DiZoglio told the Herald. “Since you refuse to do so and are literally hiding public records instead, I now don’t believe you and am formally calling on you to produce evidence and to tell the people of the Commonwealth how many times you’ve silenced public employees through nondisclosure agreements using their tax dollars.”

Baker’s office tersely dismissed a Herald records request for the number of taxpayer-funded secret nondisclosure agreements made over the past five fiscal years, with the cost per year, and redacted documentation to confirm that the victim requested the secret deal.

“Any records responsive to your request have been withheld consistent with the public records law as interpreted by the Supreme Judicial Court,” the governor’s office stated, following House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s stance in refusing to allow any public scrutiny.

“I gave the governor the benefit of the doubt, I met with him to try to give him the perspective of someone who has been on the other side of having to sign an NDA,” DiZoglio said, citing her own alleged harassment case in the House of Representatives eight years ago.

DiZoglio argues that victims can be required to take a nondisclosure agreement, which waive a victim’s right to file lawsuits or to speak out, and which experts say perpetuate sexual misconduct.

“I truly expected some sort of collaboration. What I got from him instead was a pat on the head, so to speak,” DiZoglio said. “Since he apparently didn’t hear me in our meeting, let me say this publicly and maybe he will hear me a little bit better.”

“You might look down on me, governor, but I stand tall on the shoulders of every woman who has come before me and alongside every worker who has been mistreated by the powerful and the privileged. By hiding public documents and refusing to reform the use of taxpayer funded NDAs, you’ve acted irresponsibly and turned your back on the moral obligation you have to our Commonwealth,” DiZoglio continued.

Baker told reporters on July 15 that he uses nondisclosure agreements “only if the victim wants one,” days after meeting with DiZoglio, a Methuen Democrat, and Rep. Alyson Sullivan, an Abington Republican, two of the state’s youngest female legislators and both self-identified survivors of sexual misconduct. The pair continue to push for a bill that would ban taxpayer-funded nondisclosure agreements, but would allow this kind of agreement privately if the victim chooses.

Only three state agencies responded to a Herald request for amounts of taxpayer funds used on nondisclosure agreements in the past five fiscal years, totaling to $674,273.

Auditor Suzanne Bump’s staff reported three settlement agreements totaling to $39,466 with nondisclosure language, which they said do not involve allegations of sexual harassment. The Executive Office of Health and Human Services had 110 settlements totaling to $572,425 among six different divisions over the past five years and the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs listed three settlements totaling to $62,381. The Executive Office of Public Safety and Security noted they had one settlement with no monetary amount. None provided information about the nature of the complaints that prompted the settlements.

“These are not complete answers. We need a complete answer,” DiZoglio said. “There absolutely needs to be an audit and I’m going to be speaking with colleagues in the coming days about next steps. Some of these responses are hugely problematic and signals wide-spread issues systemic across the board.”