Taunton hands ACLU a big bill as group seeks data on tech usage

Welcome to a super-sized Wednesday edition. Let’s get to it.

When it comes to public records, there are several different types of requesters.

Reporters are the best known users, following up on tips or panning for gold. Then there are lobbyists and consultants looking to see what went wrong with a client’s bid for a state contract, and advocacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts (ACLUM), who count themselves as “power users.”

But those seeking to open up files sometimes run into a brick wall of opposition. Take the ACLUM's ongoing attempts to probe police use of license plate readers.

ACLUM and Kade Crockford, director of the group's technology for liberty program, sent out dozens of public records requests to police departments across the state. Some departments gave the information “right away,” while others needed some negotiation, and some went straight to a dollar amount. The city of Springfield asked for $150,000 first.

And then there was Taunton, which has sent the ACLUM a letter providing one estimate that put the cost to the group at $1.8 million. That’s just under the total revenue the nonprofit group saw in 2023.

The Taunton police official in charge of such requests asked the state supervisor of records for permission to go above the statutory limit of $25. “The fee is necessary due to the nature, scope and complexity of the request,” wrote the official, John Joyce. The supervisor rejected the $1.8 million number last week, but allowed a smaller fee of roughly $560,000, Joyce told MASSterList.

For the ACLUM’s part, Crockford contrasted Taunton immediately turning to a million-dollar tally with other departments, and said the group plans to modify the Taunton request in an attempt to bring the cost down.

“It’s frustrating to get that kind of response, particularly in light of the fact that most departments have been collaborative and generous with their time,” Crockford said, singling out Greenfield and Wakefield for readily opening up their books for inspection.

ACLUM has been looking to create new guardrails around police use of license-plate readers, citing concerns about nationwide data sharing, and the potential use to look up someone from Texas heading to Massachusetts for an abortion, or deployment of the technology for immigration-related searches. “This is a dragnet surveillance program targeting all motorists, not just people suspected of a crime,” Crockford said.

The most influential ACLUM records request, which later became a lawsuit, was directed at the state RMV back in 2018 over police access to a facial recognition database. Crockford said the information they eventually received was “instrumental in helping us pass facial recognition bans in Massachusetts and the first regulation statewide.”

Do you have some ideas for public records requests? I’m not a power user, but over the years I’ve enjoyed digging out details about General Electric’s HQ move and the collapse of Boston’s Olympics bid. Let me know what you’d like me to request: [email protected].

MASSterList Job Board
Employee Relations Manager — NEW!, City of Cambridge
Senior Director of Program Operations — NEW!, St. Francis House
Director of Operations, St. Anthony Shrine
Learning and Development Director, Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General
General Counsel, Massachusetts Gaming Commission
Senior Manager, Harborwalk, Resilience, and Access, Boston Harbor Now
Director of External Affairs, Framingham State University
Vice President for Legal and Government Affairs / General Counsel, Framingham State University
Major Gifts Coordinator, Conservation Law Foundation

Jobs continue below the fold — post a job

Happening Today

11:00 | Small Property Owners Association hosts a rally criticizing a new state law banning renter-paid broker fees. | State House steps

12:00 | A rally and march focused on disability rights is held to mark the 35th anniversary of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. | Boston City Hall Plaza

12:00 | Fenway Park and MGM Music Hall employees, members of UNITE HERE Local 26 and Aramark, assemble picket signs and announce the dates they plan to strike. | 145 Ipswich St., Boston

POLITICAL INTEL

The Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll on the match-up between Mayor Michelle Wu and nonprofit executive Josh Kraft nearly matches up with an internal Wu poll of likely voters conducted earlier in July by GBAO, a D.C. firm. The Globe/Suffolk poll put Wu at 60% to Kraft’s 30%, a lead that MASSterList columnist Jon Keller called “Meninoesque.” The Wu internal poll had her with 64%, and Kraft with 20%, with 12% undecided, higher than the Globe’s 7%. GBAO, which also conducted a February poll, had Kraft’s name ID rising to 80%, from 68%, but it led to “higher negative ratings”...

…In a memo to supporters about the poll and the state of the race on Monday, Wu campaign manager Julia Leja included an aside about the pro-Kraft super PAC known as Your City Your Future. Noting that the super PAC backed by wealthy donors has spent $3 million on TV ads and billboards, Leja said it’s also paid small businesses to place Kraft signs in their windows. One businessperson who preferred to stay anonymous recently spoke with MASSterList and confirmed they were offered money for displaying a sign but declined. The chair of the Kraft super PAC did not respond to a request for comment…

…Scott Ferson, a political operative whose client list includes House Speaker Ron Mariano and Congressman Stephen Lynch, has a book on politics coming out next year. Ferson, whose travels have taken him to 34 states over the past eight years, spoke with thousands of people and titled the book, “How the Democrats Lost Steve.” The Steve in the title does not refer to Lynch, but a unionized construction worker in his 50s who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and again in 2024. “The Trump phenomenon is because there is this vacuum and people are disconnected from politics,” Ferson said. The book comes out April 7.

FROM BEACON HILL

CULTURE QUESTION: Noting that in the last seven years, Beacon Hill has seen three lawmakers dealing with OUIs, Shira Schoenberg asks, “Does the State House have a drinking problem?” – Boston Globe

VOTER LIST: A federal judge has ruled that Secretary of State Bill Galvin, the state’s elections chief, does not have to provide a list of every registered voter in Massachusetts to a conservative group that has sued for the information. The group filed an appeal on Tuesday. – Universal Hub

BUSINESS DESK

PHILADELPHIA STORY: Eight Red Line subway cars, shipped to the US from China, were held up by US Customs and Border Protection officials in Philadelphia, a further delay to the MBTA’s effort to replace the fleet of ancient cars. – CommonWealth Beacon

CLOUDY FORECAST: Supporters of the clean energy industry warn that the Trump administration’s hostile positioning on projects will create “delay and inertia” as states like Massachusetts seek to add clean power capacity. – State House News Service

NEWS NEXT DOOR

DEFENDANTS DISMISSED: About 125 criminal defendants saw their charges based on a lack of legal representation, a situation stemming from a budget fight and ensuing work stoppage by bar advocates. – Boston Herald

TAX RETURN TALK: Up in the polls, Mayor Michelle Wu presses her advantage and challenges challenger Josh Kraft to release his tax returns. – WBUR

POLL POSITION: A Quincy City Council challenger is crying foul after city officials changed a polling location for the upcoming election to an American Legion post where the incumbent councilor is a part-time bartender.. – Patriot Ledger

MORE HEADLINES

A political battle is brewing over measure that would allow online gambling in Mass.

Business groups oppose union-backed ban on ‘captive audience’

Market Basket fires two longtime executives amid power struggle with CEO

Job Board

Do you have an open job you'd like to feature here? Click here to place a job board order, or email Dylan Rossiter at [email protected].