So-called public records are rarely easy to obtain. That’s especially true in Massachusetts, which is demonstrably one of the least transparent states in multiple regards. In the commonwealth, even when a document or data point is technically public, it may still be buried under bureaucratic rubble.
That’s where Nathan Story comes in. In 2020, along with fellow software engineer Jacob Lurye, he built a thorough Boston police information database called Woke Windows (later renamed StateReference Window). Pulling from sources such as SWAT reports, internal affairs records, payroll data, and even traffic citations—many of which were obtained through extensive public information requests—the resulting clearinghouse has been a critical resource for journalists, attorneys, and members of the general public as well.
For his latest project, StateReference Ethics, Story dragged another set of hard-to-get records into public view. Per his description, it’s a “searchable database of ethics disclosures filed by Massachusetts officials detailing their investments, potential conflicts of interest, and more.” We’re just getting started entering search terms like “Palantir” and “Axon” into the dashboard, and discovering innumerable leads for future coverage of our electeds and the interests which entertain them. In the meantime, we asked Story about his powerful new website.
First of all, who are you? When you’re not wearing your cape doing heroic database and government transparency work, what are you doing?
You’re asking for my Clark Kent identity? I can assure you, it’s nothing as exciting as being a journalist.
I’m a self-employed computer programmer. I own a B2C SaaS business in the education space. It pays the bills and gives me the flexibility to work on things I’m passionate about.
In the world of journalism, advocacy, and armchair sleuthing, the project you are definitely best known for is Woke Windows. As a reporter, I used it extensively over the years as a way to track problematic cops, to review salaries, all that interesting stuff. Please tell us how that came about, what it took to make and update that site, and why you ultimately stopped updating it.
I started the website in 2020 and stopped updating it in 2021. Back in 2020, I read a report by the ACLU of Massachusetts Unpacking the Boston Police Budget. They pulled the data and found that “All in all, in 2019 BPD employees made up 15 of the top 20 highest-paid Boston employees.”
I started googling the names of the highest-paid cops, and it was outrageous. At the top was a guy who the city tried (and failed) to fire for payroll fraud. The second-highest-paid city employee in 2019 was John Danilecki, “Pepper Jack,” the “avatar of cop violence in Boston.” Going down the list, I found dirty cop after dirty cop.
It was then the idea came to me: how powerful would it be to have this information in one place? What if you could look up a cop and immediately see the juxtaposition of the lavish salary and the outrageous behavior?
This started my odyssey of learning about the public records law and collecting data on the Boston Police Department: internal affairs files, personnel orders, Field Interrogation and Observation (FIO) reports, Civil Service Commission decisions, and all the other record types necessary to get the full picture.
As for why I stopped … the simple answer is I got tired. I was tired of gathering docs and updating the site. And, in a way I wasn’t really prepared for, it was also emotionally exhausting. The victims of police violence don’t see justice; they often don’t even get recognition. It’s a dark hole of frustration and rage.
On a brighter note, I want to give a shout-out to BU Spark! It’s a great program, and they’ve been working on a Boston Police Index that I’m sure will surpass anything I’ve done in this area.
And I have to ask—what was with that name, Woke Windows? It came out long before the term woke was widely used in its contemporary context, and frankly it always struck me as a bit odd. What’s the backstory?
It’s a little cringe. I was trying to make a play on words clowning on “broken windows theory,” but it didn’t land. The reactionaries adopting the term “woke” as their generic racist insult did not help.
Before we get into your new ethics project, what have been some other projects you have been a part of over the years? Anything that even those who know you best are unaware of and that you want to tell us about?
For the past three years, I’ve focused on solidarity with the Palestinian people and other victims of Zionism. Nothing is more important to me than ending the ongoing genocide in Palestine and Southern Lebanon.
The public records skills I learned from police transparency work are proving immensely helpful in this area. There are a ton of links between Massachusetts and the State of Israel. I am bringing them to light.
With your new effort, State Reference Ethics, the public is now able to look through thousands of disclosure forms that were previously not exactly this accessible, to put it mildly. Please just start by telling us about what this stuff is, who the filers are, how you got the data, the basics …
Under the Conflict of Interest Law here in Massachusetts, there are a variety of disclosure forms that public employees and elected officials are required to file. I’m not learned enough to understand all the regulations around what needs to be filed when, but suffice to say, they generally relate to actions and relationships that give an appearance of a conflict of interest.
What’s interesting to me is where they are filed. Elected state and county officials file with the State Ethics Commission, but members of the Massachusetts House and Senate are allowed to file with their respective clerks instead. Elected municipal officials file the form with their Town Clerk or City Clerk. Finally, non-elected public employees file with their “appointing authority” — this is basically the boss of whatever agency or department they work for.
When you break it down, you discover these disclosures are actually filed in hundreds of shared drives and filing cabinets across the commonwealth. My long-term ambition is to send out the public records requests, collect a good chunk of these, and put them in a single database. There are two document types in the database: conflict of interest disclosures, and statements of financial interest. They both have interesting stories behind them, but I focused on the disclosures.
I don’t want to give up all of my ideas just yet, but obviously I just started pumping words like “Flock” and “Axon” into your machine, since Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) are on everyone’s mind these days. For now, let’s just say that members of the Massachusetts State Police as well as the Parole Board have some rather interesting investments that we’re looking at. So my question is: What keywords have turned up some notable information for you thus far?
Israel. In Massachusetts, we have what’s called the “travel loophole.” Normally a public official is prohibited from accepting a gift above $50 in value. The exception: they can accept a free trip worth thousands of dollars so long as it “promotes the interests of the Commonwealth.” The employee or elected official just needs to file the disclosure documenting this. A public employee will need to get a sign-off from their boss, but a lawmaker really just asserts for themself that the trip “will serve a legitimate public purpose.”
Pro-Israel groups like the JCRC of Greater Boston, the American Israel Education Foundation (AIPAC’s “charitable organization”), and even the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs are prolific in their use of this loophole. Massachusetts Peace Action has been doing some great work documenting this, and they are pushing legislation to close the loophole.
If you could have the ear of every reporter in the state regarding how you’d like to see them use this tool, what would you tell them to look for? And what is your message to members of the public who are simply interested in this stuff?
I’ve had a vision for years now that runs through my previous work on “Woke Windows” and my current work today. I want to create tools that 1—make journalism faster and easier, and 2—make government records available to the general public.
Newsrooms know how to request the internal affairs file for a cop or an ethics disclosure for a lawmaker. I want to proactively get those records, so the journalist facing a deadline can download the file immediately instead of waiting three weeks on a public records request.
My message for reporters in the state: are you working on a story about a state employee? Enter their name in the StateReference Ethics database and see if anything comes up. It will take just 10 seconds of your time.
Any caution about how this kind of information can be misused? Or are we just happy enough when anyone wants to even look at it in the first place?
I’m not worried, no. These documents don’t contain the sort of personal information that would raise doxing concerns. Under Exemption (c), the state should withhold materials “… the disclosure of which may constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” If someone does find something concerning in the database, please reach out, and I’ll look into it.
Do you have any general thoughts about government transparency, particularly in regard to Massachusetts, that you’d like to share? How about on “the audit” that State Auditor Diana DiZoglio has not been able to get done despite voters pulling for it two years ago?
I am a huge fan of DiZoglio and the audit she is pursuing. She’s taken that sleepy office and turned it into a sword aimed at the heart of everything wrong with Massachusetts politics.
Now is an exciting time for transparency in Massachusetts. We have great organizations like Act on Mass working to broaden the public records law (Vote Yes on Question 1!), and fighting the culture of secrecy in the legislature.
Leadership in the House and Senate will delay and stonewall, but I sincerely believe we’re going to win.
