Scandal Plagued Toll Authority Charges 12,000 Drivers for “Free” Ride

The CTRMA toll authority admitted today that 183A drivers are being overcharged.

Drivers with TxTAG’s were promised they could test drive the new 183A toll road for free this month. But now we learn over 12,000 drivers have been overcharged. Steve Pustelnyk, spokesman for the toll authority blames the overcharging on computer errors.

This overcharging is only the latest problem for the bureaucratic toll authority that has lost a lot of credibility with the community.

Years before other Phase I toll roads opened up in Austin, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority promised the public they would only be paying 15 cents a mile. But, just weeks ago the Statesman revealed sections costing as much as $1.50 a mile. Ten times the promised cost!

And Texas Comptroller’s investigative report showed the same toll authority giving out NO BID contracts to themselves and their friends. The report also found “Double Taxation Without Accountability”.

And the toll authority gave "pay off" contracts to the sister of State Representative Dawnna Dukes, the day before Dukes made a very unpopular vote to toll Austin freeways.

This also isn’t the first time the CTRMA has overcharged drivers.

With all of it’s problems the toll authority just rewarded it’s executive director, Mike “deadbeat dad” Heiligenstein, with a 25% raise!

Toll Authority Shark Gets 25% Raise!

Mike Heiligenstein, executive director of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA), just got a big fat raise, from board members who were caught profiting off toll roads.

Heiligenstein will make $190,000 in base salary, as well as receive $40,000 in deferred compensation (which he could take now) and other cash payments - not to mention numerous perks such as car allowance.

Heiligenstein got a 25% raise, when most people would be fired. It’s been documented that he lied to elected officials and central Texas communities about toll rates.

For years, Heiligenstein promised that our tolls would only cost 12 to 15 cents a mile. A recent Statesman article exposed the Heiligenstein that tolls are costing as much as $1.50 a mile. 10 times the promised rate!

The Comptroller’s investigative report lays out how Heiligenstein and the his crooked pals (toll authority board members) hijacked our tax dollars and our roads for their own profit with the unaccountable quasi government agency they created:

"Mike Heiligenstein was a member of the Williamson County Commissioners Court until December 2003, and in that capacity voted for the formation of CTRMA and for the appointments of four of its board members.”

Then, those board members hired Heiligenstein as Executive Director.

The comptroller’s investigative exposed Heiligenstein’s toll authority for “double taxation without accountability” and giving out NO BID contracts to themselves and friends (see Appendix 5).

Heiligenstein is plagued with a history of failing to meet his financial responsibilities. Heiligenstein’s bankruptcy from 1990 (#90-14004 Williamson County) included two debtors which were also two of Heiligenstein’s board member selections, James Mills and Mike Robinson.

And, in 2004, deadbeat dad Heiligenstein refused to pay child support. District Court Judge Jergins signed the order (case # 03-556-f395) for income to be withheld in the amount of $1,500 per month. More about Heiligenstein, and his constant irresponsible behavior HERE.

Toll Authority Admits it Impedes Traffic

Citizen says toll authority is impeding traffic. Toll authority (CTRMA) admits, in an email, that it impedes traffic on free roads close to toll roads (even after it promised that additional lights would not be added to free roads to make tolls more attractive.)

Dear Toll Authority,

Just what in the heck are you doing with 183 just south of the San Gabriel river? It appears, from I map I've seen, that you are going to direct all 183 traffic through a new stop light on 183A, instead of leaving the old road intact?

Malcom Terry

Toll Authority Responds:

From: spustelnyk@ctrma.org
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 8:38 AM
Subject: RE: Contact Page Request, CTRMA.org

Dear Mr. Terry,

Thank you for visiting the Mobility Authority Web site. Your observations regarding US 183 are correct.

As you head south on US 183 from Liberty Hill you will automatically be shifted onto the new 183A frontage roads. If you want to stay on US 183 you will have to make a right hand turn at a traffic signal that is currently being installed. The 183A corridor will be the primary corridor for traffic in that area once it opens. In order to safely merge the two roads together we had to install a traffic signal. If I can answer any further questions, please let me know.

Sincerely, Steve J. Pustelnyk Director of Communications
Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority
(512) 996-9778(Office) (512)680-9997 (Cell)

Citizen replies:

Mr. Pustelnyk,

183A is not the primary corridor for those of us who have business in Leander and Cedar Park. If this was purely to improve mobility, then there would be seamless flyovers to minimize the impact on existing roads.

183A is way over-priced with rates as high as $1.50 a mile in some places. The rate of $1.80 for the whole 11.6 mile trek, around Leander and Cedar Park, is still outrageous considering that the "free" frontage road system on the northern section will be just like Parmer Lane, in that drivers will have to go through traffic signals every few miles. I just don't see how you can charge that much for and incomplete expressway. If you don't want to see a revolt, you had better advise those private investors to consider pricing the toll roads at a reasonable rate, put toll booths (with cash options) at every exit so that drivers pay for only the section they drive on, and to quit messing up the existing roads to favor the toll ways.

It has become obvious to me that this whole toll road system has less to do with improving mobility and more to do with lining the pockets of private toll road investors and property developers along the old and new routes. We were sold a bill of goods by being told that the toll roads would lighten the load on existing roads. What we were not told (although we should have known) is that the existing roads were going to have more traffic impedance via more signals, an explosion of development and therefore more traffic than ever before. I will be contacting Senator Steve Ogden, Representative Dan Gattis, and Governor Rick Perry about this. You and I both know that the government can do whatever they want and if we turn-up the heat on those good ole boys who made this sweet deal for private investors, we may just get the roads put back into the hands of the people. I suggest you keep your resume updated.

Sincerely,
Malcom Terry

Toll Tax Zombie/Vampires Hide within Layers of Toll Road Bureaucracy.

The national average of tolls per mile is only 9 cents a mile.

The unaccountable revenue hungry Central Texas toll authority promised citizens a cost of 12 to 15 cents a mile.

But they lied.

Drivers will pay 40 cents, 64 cents and even $1.50 a mile! The toll roads induce traffic congestion to profit. A dollar here and the quickly adds up to $1,000's a year.

New Texas Tolls as
much as 16X the
National Average!

This is the complete article from the Statesman today. It fails to use the word “Bureaucracy”, nor does it mention the millions of tax dollars (intended for free roads) that were diverted into these toll roads:

Toll roads:
Paying a lot to drive a little
$1.50-per-mile spot near Lakeline Mall illustrates fee discrepancies.

By Ben Wear
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, February 12, 2007

So, what does it cost you to drive on Central Texas' emerging toll road system?

Well, about 12 cents a mile. Unless it's 18 cents, or 40 cents, or 64 cents. Or, in one notable spot near Lakeline Mall, a cool $1.50 a mile.

State and local toll officials chose to install a system that is based on paying every so often, rather than a more old-fashioned "closed road" system in which drivers pass toll plazas on the way in and out and pay a set per-mile amount for their exact mileage. Inevitably, the "open road" approach introduces sizable inconsistencies, with longer trips on the tollway typically more economical than a short jaunt.

Other decisions by toll authorities, particularly choosing to have almost all ramps cost 50 cents for cash customers, have only exacerbated the situation. For some drivers in an area unfamiliar with toll roads in any form, the system has been a source of puzzlement and consternation. Why are there some exits and entrances that are free, drivers wonder, while others nearby have booths and electronic gantries? How can it possibly be fair, they ask, to pay 45 cents to gain just 500 yards?

That will be the situation at the southern end of the 183-A tollway, just north of RM 620, after the road opens in early March and begins charging drivers in late spring.

Northbound motorists will be able to get off at Lakeline Mall Drive, ominously posted as the "last free exit." If they do, they'll have to get through a stoplight on the frontage road before proceeding north.

Or they can go to the next exit, Lakeline Boulevard. In that brief interval, however, they'll pass an electronic toll gantry and be hit with that 45-cent toll. To make it even more confusing, drivers without electronic toll tags are not even supposed to be on the road at that point and will get a violation notice in the mail if they are.

Total distance traveled between the two exits: about three-tenths of a mile. That equates to $1.50 a mile.

"It's just not right," said Cedar Park resident Tom Nehmzow, who would dearly love to exit for free at that second ramp because he takes Lakeline Boulevard home. The Lakeline Mall exit, he said, will be inundated with people looking to avoid paying.

"What they're going to create there is a tremendous traffic jam at Lakeline Mall Drive," he said. "You've got a stoplight at the very bottom of the ramp, so it's going to back up onto the tollway. It's got to."

The irony is that Nehmzow, a manufacturer's representative who drives a lot around the area, has a toll tag and supports toll roads in general.

"Overall, I would say the toll road system is pretty cool. I really enjoy it," he said. "I just think this particular situation is a rip-off."

Officials with the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, which is building and will operate 183-A, have been bracing for this sort of reaction.

They have an even broader problem, however.

The startup agency originally was going to build 11.6 miles of tollway, all the way from RM 620 to U.S. 183 north of Leander. But a traffic and revenue study done about three years ago indicated that, in the road's first decade, traffic north of RM 1431 would not justify the additional $100 million or so necessary to build express lanes all the way.

So the agency decided instead to build about 4.5 miles of tollway on the south end and then free two-lane frontage roads for the seven northernmost miles. But to pay back money borrowed to build all this, the agency will charge $1.80 for that 4.5-mile tollway trip. That's 40 cents a mile.

Of course, if you happen to live in Leander or points north, or have other business up that way, you'll be able to drive the whole 11.6 miles for that $1.80, stopping at a few stoplights in the free part. Cost: 15.5 cents a mile.

"Admittedly, it does get confusing," said Mike Heiligenstein, executive director of the mobility authority since shortly after it was created in 2002. He compared the situation to a water system, in which early users of the system might have to pay for more of the startup costs of water mains but people in more outlying areas developed later get lower costs.

"We tried to hit the middle ground and give everyone a little something," he said. "Not everything's always fair."

As for that Lakeline Boulevard anomaly, Heiligenstein points out that originally the Lakeline Mall Drive exit was going to carry a 50-cent charge (45 cents for people with toll tags). But that would have put the last free exit on northbound U.S. 183 well south of RM 620.

"We added that as a sort of convenience, as a courtesy," he said.

And Heiligenstein pointed out, as did others, that if people stay on 183-A for those extra 500 yards and pay that 45 cents, they're actually purchasing time rather than distance: the time saved by avoiding a stoplight.

That same logic applies on the Loop 1 tollway just north of Parmer Lane, one of three new toll roads built in Central Texas by the Texas Department of Transportation, where going through a toll point south of Wells Branch Parkway for 45 cents gains just seven-tenths of a mile. That equates to 64 cents a mile. But those drivers won't have to stop at the Scofield Ridge Parkway traffic light on the frontage road.

The state and mobility authority could reduce these disparities, of course, by lowering the toll rate at particular ramps. But to satisfy the bond holders looking to get paid back, they then would have to raise the toll rates somewhere else.

And then there's the matter of quarters, dimes and nickels.

When the state was designing the Loop 1, Texas 45 North and Texas 130 toll roads more than five years ago, electronic toll technology was a generation behind where it is now. The bond community, recognizing that a sizable portion of the customer base would never get an electronic toll tag, demanded that the three roads have facilities at every tolling point to collect cash.

Toll authorities increasingly have been setting rates in multiples of 25 cents, because automatic coin collection machines operate better with a single coin size and because it simplifies the coin scramble for drivers. That shortens time at booths and thus reduces toll plaza traffic congestion.

So, to diminish the per-mile disparities, couldn't the toll on some ramps have been just 25 cents? The state Transportation Department decided against that, said Bob Daigh, the Austin district engineer. Daigh was in the agency's turnpike division when the Austin roads were in the final planning stages.

"It's driver expectation," Daigh said. "They need to know, 'This is a ramp plaza, and it's 50 cents.' If you make that one 25 cents, you've introduced a question in the driver's mind as he goes to the next one. He has his quarter out, and it's really 50 cents, so you stack up traffic while he's searching for a second quarter."

Joseph Giglio, a professor of corporate strategy at Boston's Northeastern University and an expert on toll systems, said drivers will sort all this out soon enough.

"We're not talking about introducing the metric system," Giglio said. And if people don't want to pay for a few hundred yards and an avoided stoplight, they won't.

"That's a discretionary choice. There's a willing buyer and seller. Nobody is insisting you pay that 45 cents."

Inconsistent toll rates

The approach taken by the Austin area's two tollway operators means that the cost per mile varies widely, depending on the length and specifics of any given turnpike trip.

Trip Length Toll cost* Cost per mile

183-A

Lakeline Mall Drive to Lakeline Blvd. 0.3 $0.45 $1.50

RM 620 to RM 1431 4.5 $1.80 $0.40

RM 620 to South San Gabriel River 11.6 $1.80 $0.16

Loop 1

Wells Branch Pkwy. to Parmer Lane 0.7 $0.45 $0.64

Loop 1/45 North

Parmer to I-35 in Round Rock 4.5 $0.68 $0.15

Loop 1/45 North/130

Parmer to U.S. 79 15.5 $1.80 $0.12

130/45 North

I-35 to U.S. 79 9.8 $1.13 $0.12

130

I-35 in Georgetown to U.S. 290 25.6 $2.70 $0.11

I-35 in Georgetown to U.S. 183** 49 $5.40 $0.11

* Cost for passenger vehicle with 10 percent toll tag discount. Vehicles with more than two axles are charged an additional toll amount for each additional axle.

** Full length of Texas 130 when final two segments are completed later this year.

Source: Published toll rates, staff research

10 of 12: How Krusee Cohort, John Langmore, syphons tax dollars for special interests.

This is Attorney John H. Langmore, one of the key confidence tricksters behind the Krusee & Perry TTC Land Grab and Freeway Double Tax Tolls. Langmore is a key player for the Special Interests.

Attorney John Henley Langmore (DOB 11/30/1962) was the Policy Director for the Texas House Transportation Committee during the 78th Legislative Session in 2003. Langmore played a principal role in formulating and drafting State Rep. Mike Krusse’s HB 3588, one of the most comprehensive transportation bills ever passed in the state of Texas, it completely altered the accountability of transportation projects. New powers were given as unelected bureaucratic mini-TxDOTs were created to toll already funded freeways. This “Frankenstein” law also allowed the TTC to take private land for foreign profits.

Many elected officials had no idea that 3588 was a Trojan horse. Most only skim the summary of a bill and use trust as a barometer.

Today, John Langmore continues the confidence game as he impersonates a Transportation Planning Expert to continue to bilk taxpayers for his special interest pals as well as get insider contracts for himself.

But, shockingly, Attorney Langmore has NO education in transportation planning, not even an online college course.

The snakelike Langmore has gone beyond the call of special interest duty. Since creating HB 3588, he’s slithered his way into the deep nooks and crannies of the unaccountable deals his legal language helped to create.

Langmore's SafeRail PAC Opens the Door for Looters.
Langmore was the one man band for SafeRail PAC. He was the campaign treasurer, campaign manager and PR contact for SafeRail PAC, a political action committee that had success in altering our Texas Constitution in 2005. Prop 1 in 2005 allowed unlimited tax dollars and debt to be syphon for new corporate rail in the TTC.

A quick glimpse of state records show Zachry Construction (of Cintra Zachry) gave SafeRail PAC $10,000, Herzog Construction gave $10,000, HNTB gave $6,000, PBS&J, Carter Burgess, Pate Engineer folks each gave $5,000 each.

TateAustin received over $12,000 for PR and Langmore’s SafeRail PAC spent over $32,000 on a radio buy in Houston to trick voters. Langmore contributed $471.31 in cash and $10,000 of campaign management and public relations services, sure to be repaid with thank you contracts.

The Proposition 1 constitutional amendment that Langmore helped to secure (53% to 47%) is a simple open-ended corporate subsidy scheme --- literally a blank check. Taxpayers will pay unlimited tax dollars (and generations of debt) to move private corporation rail lines into Gov. Perry's Trans Texas Corridor (and this after the governor had promised Texans that no public funds would be used for the TTC). Unaccountable people will decide how the taxpayer based rail fund will be spent, as corporations profit.

Langmore registered as a Texas lobbyist in 2005 representing Toll & Road Lobby companies such as Pate Engineering and Infrastructure Corporation of America. Pate and Langmore contributed to Krusee in 2005. Some say “that’s how the wheels stay greased”. Langmore has contributed to other politicos like Gonzalo Barrientos and Kirk Watson as well.

Is the system built for corruption and incestuous deals?

AND, how does Langmore get himself placed on every committee Krusee is not already on? He's also on the CAMPO Growth Subcommittee.

The address that Langmore submitted to the State for lobbying is interestingly the same address as Mike Weaver’s Prime Strategies, 1508 S. Lamar Blvd. Mike Weaver helped to create the local freeway tolling authority (CTRMA) and gave his own company, Prime Strategies, the first Toll Authority NO BID contract. Comptroller Strayhorn’s report shows Weaver's company billed the CTRMA for well over $600,000 from 2002 to 2005. The NO BID contract was paid for with tax dollars.

In 2006, I witnessed the special interest trio, Mike Weaver, John Langmore and Bill Burnett (former CAMPO board member who voted to toll roads we’ve already paid for) as they told Travis County Commissioners that Hays, Williamson County and two dozen other local governments across Texas are moving forward with a common sense NO TOLL option (pass through financing) while Travis must tolls on roads we’ve already paid for. The Commissioners bought it hook line and sinker.

As a very close associate of Mike Krusee, like Melinda Wheatley, Langmore cleans up on "Good Old Boy" transportation contracts. So many transportation contracts came his way, including Zachry, in 2004 that he needed to create a new business as a Transportation Consultant. He calls it “John Langmore Consulting” and it to offices out of 1508 S. Lamar Blvd. Langmore has also received toll road related marketing contracts through TateAustin, paid for with our tax dollars.

Having NO education in Transportation doesn’t stop Langmore. Hey, Mike Krusee has NO college degree, and that doesn’t stop him. Langmore is a Co-Chair of Envision Central Texas Transportation and Land Use Committee, which is now focused on planning the details of the primer for the TTC, the $1.5 Billion dollar SH 130. Mike Heiligenstein joins Langmore as a board member of ECT.

After graduating from UT’s School of Law and Graduate School of Business in 1989, John began his career working in Akin Gump’s Washington D.C. office. Langmore was Licensed in Texas in 1991 (State Bar Card Number 11922650), but, as of this year his license is inactive. Langmore had an executive role with Caterpillar in Tennessee for 11 years and a short stint as a photographer in San Antonio.

Langmore’s past also includes two (2) DRIVING WHILE INTOXICATED (DWI) CONVICTIONS, at least 24 months of probation and hundreds of dollars in fines.

Public records show Langmore and his wife Catherine Langmore owning 1408 Preston Ave. Austin TX 78703-1902, with an assessed value of about $500.000.

John Langmore has altered our Texas Laws and our State Constitution to where it is now legal to steal our roads, our land, our tax's and even generations of debt for the Toll Road Mafia's Personal Enrichment Program.

To this day Langmore, continues to influence where and how our tax dollars are spent, as he skims a bit for himself and impersonates a Transportation Planning Expert.

This article is part 10 of a 10 part series called “Circle of Parasites”. Freeways have never been tolled in the history of the U.S., but that doesn’t stop a close circle of self serving individuals with a long history of looking out for themselves at the expense of others.

Read the other “Circle of Parasites” articles (just click below):

1 of 10: Deadbeat Mike Heiligenstein Runs Freeway Tolling Authority

2 of 10: Two Toll Authority Board Members Refuse to Resign

3 of 10: Austin American Snakesman

4 of 10: Convicted CRIMINAL, Pete Peters, Connected to Freeway Tolls

5 of 10: Rep. Mike Krusee and Lobbyist Melinda Wheatley.

6 of 10: Ghost Organization Voted to Toll Austin Freeways

7 of 10: State Rep. Dawnna Dukes Payolla Toll Vote Ignores Constituents and Federal Law

8 of 10: County Commissioner Limmer and Convicted Criminal formally do business.

9 of 10: TxDOT Engineer, Bob Daigh: Secret Deals, Lies and a Convicted Criminal

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9 of 12: TxDOT Engineer, Bob Daigh: Secret Deals, Lies and a Convicted Criminal

TxDOT District Engineer Bob Daigh, to the left, arrived at the CAMPO
meeting with Richard Ridings of HNTB (183A contractor) seen at right.

I went to TxDOT this week (8/14/06) to pick up documents I asked for via a public information request. I requested cell phone records of TxDOT District Engineer Bob Daigh (more about what I found in the next paragraphs).

While I was at the I 35 and 183 TxDOT campus Monday, I was asked to sign in. I noticed that CRA International, who was hired to do the Independent Review of the Double Tax toll roads, had signed in at least two people to meet with TxDOT District Engineer Bob Daigh. At the same time, at 1pm, the toll authorities executive director (CTRMA), Mike Heiligenstein also signed in to meet with Bob Daigh and CRA. I assume CRA was meeting with TxDOT and CTRMA to gather information for the City of Austin Independent Review. Both CRA and Heiligenstein signed out at 4pm. I was shocked to see that no neutral party joined this meeting.

Three hours is plenty of time alone to discuss Phase II (Double Tax Toll) details and maybe even cut a deal. It would give the public a little confidence if these meetings were either made public, or at least had some neutral person, or a reporter attending.

I emailed Councilmember Brewster McCracken this information and my opinion, since he spearheaded the Independent Study, and he sent me this response,

“Thanks for letting me know, Sal. This stuff needs to be done in public, in my opinion.”

And, the beat goes on.

Back to that pile of 450 pages of Bob Daigh’s (567-1059) cell phone records.

Get this. Convicted criminal Amos “Pete” Peters cell phone number, 415-6037, shows up over and over on Bob Daigh’s cell phone records. These records show the two actually spoke numerous times a day, right up until the comptrollers report came out in early 2005. Then the calls became less frequent. But, as the months have passed, calls between the two have picked up again to a rate of many times a month, at times, more than a dozen times a week. Bob Daigh’s appointment calendars also reflect many face to face meetings with this convicted criminal.

20 year Convicted Criminal Amos "Pete" Peters

Why is this important? When folks are trying to toll roads we’ve already paid for, and a convicted criminal is at the heart of it, something stinks like month old fish.

Pete Peter’s numerous contacts Daigh could represent communications directly with a member of the executive branch to influence administrative action. It is a violation of Texas Law to do so, without registering as a lobbyist.

Peters is not registered as a lobbyist. It is illegal for a convicted criminal to lobby in the state of Texas. But that never stopped ol Pete, as he’s been seen over past years hanging out at the capital, only to tell those who know better that, “I’m not lobbying here” while in the capital.

Page 45 of State Comptroller report on Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority: A Need for a Higher Standard, March 2005 states this about a Peters communication that points to his lobbying:

“HNTB subcontractor Amos “Pete” Peters stated that “elected officials have been shored-up and alliances have been formed to see the HWY 183-A through to completion.” "

Peters, as per the Comptroller’s investigative report, has received numerous NO BID toll road contracts from Mike Heiligenstein’s unaccountable freeway tolling authority.

You would think stealing tax funded public highways and shifting them to tollways would be enough to make the freeway toll plan make good business sense, but it’s not. To sell this pig in a poke, you need to LIE BIG as well.

CTRMA's Mike Heiligenstein

In March of 2004, Bob Daigh and the toll authorities Mike Heiligenstein LIED to the public and CAMPO when they went to dozens of neighborhoods with a scare tactic (as well as included the LIE in a press release) about the alternative to double tax tolls, "...the alternative of paying a two-to-three-dollar per-gallon gas tax would never be accepted." In 2005 CAMPO Executive Director, Michael Aulick, estimated it would cost only an additional 2 cents per-gallon gas tax for the same plan without tolls.

In the summer of 2004, Bob Daigh and Mike Heiligenstein LIED again as they claimed it would cost 12 to 15 cents a mile to drive on the freeway toll roads (the national average is 9 cents a mile). Confidential CTRMA documents show the actual cost at 44 to 64 cents a mile.

I’m sure Dob Daigh will be rewarded well. History has shown the revolving door swings best for those who lie, cheat and steal from the public.

This article is part 9 of a 12 part series called “Circle of Parasites”. Freeways have never been tolled in the history of the U.S., but that doesn’t stop a close circle of self serving individuals with a long history of looking out for themselves at the expense of others.

Read the other “Circle of Parasites” articles (just click below):

1 of 12: Deadbeat Mike Heiligenstein Runs Freeway Tolling Authority

2 of 12: Two Toll Authority Board Members Refuse to Resign

3 of 12: Austin American Snakesman

4 of 12: Convicted Criminal Connected to Freeway Tolls

5 of 12: Rep. Mike Krusee and Lobbyist Melinda Wheatley.

6 of 12: Ghost Organization Voted to Toll Austin Freeways

7 of 12: State Rep. Dawnna Dukes Payolla Toll Vote Ignores Constituents and Federal Law

8 of 12: County Commissioner Limmer and Convicted Criminal formally do business.

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State Finds Mike Heiligenstein, Frankie Limmer & others Violate Texas Law: Spend public funds for political advertising

Who Said Crime Doesn’t Pay?

Convicted Criminal connected to TxDOT Freeway Tolling Scheme, Amos “Pete” Peters, is selling his 3,000 sq foot downtown home on 1309 MARSHALL LANE, Austin 78703 this week.

$1.2 Million Dollar Home
The home is under contract, pending, for $1.2 Million after 7 days on the market.

In 2002 Peters received a City of Austin building permit to upgrade 1309 Marshall Ln with a little Kitchen and Bath remodeling. City records show it was a $93,000 value.


Peters has a 20-year criminal record, including charges for check fraud/swindling, fraud/illegal use of credit cards, larceny and DUI. He was convicted of three felonies and three misdemeanors.

Pete Peters is one of the key players in the freeway tolling boondoggle. Peters was considered so close to Williamson County officials that the state Attorney General’s Office joined a recent investigation of him. According to one report, “Peters has handled campaign work for almost every major office holder in the county.” The investigation focused on several meetings related to the Williamson County Road Bonds Program for which Williamson County paid Peters; some persons who were supposed to be at these meetings allege that they never took place.


I’ve been told by numerous reliable sources that the toll authority's Mike Heiligenstein (Peters ran his campaign as county commisioner) and other Wilco tollers make sure “Pete Gets Paid” with the plan to toll roads we’ve already paid for. Thanks to Heiligenstein, Mike Weaver and others, Peters has already received NO BID contracts, which were paid for with our tax dollars.

If you have additional information
email me at Sal@TexasTollParty.com
Sources are kept confidential. I verify and confirm all leads.