Demand Letter To Austin American Statesman

Demand Letter To
Rich Oppel, Editor of
Austin American Statesman
From My Attorney Bill Gammon

Law Office of William B. Gammon

Rich Oppel
Austin American-Statesman
P.O. Box 670
Austin, Texas 78767

Re: Sunday, October 22, 2006 Editorial Board endorsement

Dear Mr. Oppel:

I represent Sal Costello. He has brought to my attention the above-referenced editorial endorsement published in your newspaper on Sunday. The purpose of this letter is to give you an opportunity to publish a retraction of the malicious statements made in that editorial about my client.

The editorial states, incorrectly, that "Strayhorn tossed Costello $15,000 in three $5,000 payments in February, March and September of this year." Had you bothered to perform the most basic of ethical journalistic practices and made any attempts to confirm the assertions made in your editorial, you would know that Mr. Costello has never taken any money from anyone for the work he does in opposition to the wasteful, unfair toll road scheme being foisted upon Texans by the man you chose to endorse.

Your verifiably false statements, however, are not the entirety of Mr. Costello’s complaint. If they were, you would not be reading this letter. By themselves they are hardly worth mentioning. Your regrettable tendency to editorialize first and seek the truth later is well known and has been publicly criticized: http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A104681. (In sharp contrast to your work of recent years, Mr. Costello’s assertions are scrupulously fact-checked prior to publication.) Instead, your editorial goes far beyond mere fabrication of pecuniary advantage directed at a man who, unlike the object of your fawning, editorial praise, has worked for years without making back room deals with anyone or has ever received any form of compensation for his efforts. The unmasked venom displayed in your editorial is unremarkable from a newspaper that endorses the plan to levy unfair taxation on Texans by forcing them to pay tolls on highways they have already paid taxes to build. I suggest, sir, that instead it is you, your newspaper, and your "editorial board" who stand to gain from your efforts to villainize Mr. Costello.

Your personal animosity towards Sal Costello is a well-known fact. Sunday’s libelous editorial is but another in a series of actions taken by you to thwart the efforts of a man who has had the temerity to expose those who seek personal profit at the expense of the citizens of Texas. This time, sir, you have gone too far and it is time that you recognize and apologize for your excesses.

Even the casual reader of your endorsement editorial cannot help but notice that it is only Mr. Costello who has been singled out as a target for your malice. Your description of him is a blatant exercise in defamation. You characterize his work as exploitation, employ charged language such as "he traffics in old divorce cases" and "smearing his opponents" and attempt to reduce his efforts to "the lowest denominator of public debate." Ironically and tellingly, you fail to mention that it was Mr. Costello who brought to light the existence of the hidden contracts that became the subject of your single, weakly-phrased criticism of your candidate. Incredibly, your entire criticism of Carole Strayhorn is her alleged support of Sal Costello, as if he were such a pariah that mere association with him has contaminated an otherwise qualified candidate for governor. It would be hard to imagine a more open display of ill will.

On behalf of Mr. Costello I demand that you publish a full apology and retraction of your defamatory editorial comments against him in the same editorial section you used to libel him.

You may choose to disagree with Mr. Costello’s objective to make transportation and other public policymakers accountable. You may choose to disapprove of his willingness to investigate and expose those who hold themselves out as worthy of public trust and the mantle of leadership. You may choose to continue your support of those who have demonstrated their readiness to breach that trust. If, however, you choose to ignore this demand or attempt to avoid your responsibility by publishing a retraction that is insufficient to correct the character assassination in which you have engaged it will be my distinct pleasure to take legal action on behalf of Mr. Costello to redress your excesses.

Very truly yours,

William B. Gammon

Shoot me an email, and let me
know what YOU think.
Sal@TexasTollParty.com