Lord of the Canteen - So funny I choked on my water!

Vote for a True Hero: Bill Gammon for Judge!

I need to tell you about a great opportunity we have to help a true hero of the people get into a position to make a real difference for the people once again. As you most probably know, Bill Gammon has been behind the scenes spending many hundreds of hours fighting freeway tolls via the legal system (pro bono) since 2004.

Thanks to Bill Gammon's legal expertise we stopped many double tax freeway tolls in Central Texas!

Our friend and attorney Bill Gammon is running for judge in the democratic primary for the 147th judicial district court (If you live in Travis County you can vote in the Dem Primary for Bill!). Bill has decided to run without seeking campaign contributions as he feels that they tarnish a judicial race.

Check out Bill's facebook page here.

And Bill's website is HERE

The primary is only 2 months away. Bill only has one opponent and no Republican opponent in the general election so the primary is for all the marbles.

I've never met anyone that has been so dedicated to the "regular Joe" in all my life.

If there is any way that you could get the word out it would be of immense help. Bill Gammon only needs 10,000 votes in the democratic primary to win. I would greatly appreciate your help. Can you help by sharing this info with your friends via email? and talk to everyone you know about Bill Gammon's run as well, when ever you can.

Feel free to copy and paste the body of this message and send it to people you know. Get the word out and make sure people vote for Bill in the Dem primary!

Take Care!
Thank You!
Sal Costello

Update from Sal

Hey pals!

Just a quick update. I think I'm getting to where I wanted to be when I left Austin about a year ago.

Between my recent vacation (my first one in 2 years) and this fantastic book called "The Joy of Living" by Mingyur Rinpoche, I've stumbled upon a major reset in my life.

Buddhist master Rinpoche combines Buddhist wisdom with the latest breakthroughs in Western medicine to reveal the scientific basis for how one can achieve enlightenment, relaxation, and happiness through meditation. I love every page.

Also, I'm on facebook. So, if you are looking to know what I'm up to, you'll find updates there if you want to select me as a friend.
: )

YOU pay for the Toll Tax Bureaucracy

News 8 Austin has a great report called "Toll road billing continues to take its toll on drivers", read the whole article HERE.

"The complaints were so varied and complicated, we had to break them down into recurring themes.

The complaints most prevalent include: accusations of inaccurate billing, exorbitant administrative fees, inaccurate record keeping and promises made by customer service that were not fulfilled.

To be fair, these claims have yet to be substantiated.

For weeks, News 8 has asked TxDOT to respond to these claims. We were told Turnpike Authority Director Mark Tomlinson was just too busy to talk to us.

We wouldn't settle for talking to one of TxDOT's media representatives because, by their own admission, one of them had already given us inaccurate information.

We took the e-mails to TxDOT to be presented to Tomlinson. News 8's Bob Robuck delivered a packet of e-mails, with names and contact information redacted.

We included a note that we would get in contact later this week.

And, remember Lisa Coleman, who TxDOT billed for nearly $4,000, and Samone Murray, billed for more than $11,000?

A TxDOT spokesperson told us each woman received an offer to have her penalties forgiven as long as she paid the tolls.

Murray said no one made her such a deal and Coleman claims customer service made the offer at the very beginning of her nightmare, when TxDOT couldn't provide documentation that she even owed the tolls."

Governor Rick Perry Slanders Me

The Texas Governor, Rick Perry, must be obsessed with me.

Months after I moved out of Texas, the Governor of Texas is spinning tales about me to to the Dallas Morning News. Perry says I tried to make a living off opposing the corridor, and since I couldn't do so, I had to leave Texas.

What a crooked liar!

Perry says this in the article:

"....And if the grass-roots toll groups and bloggers had substantial influence, we wouldn’t be building any roads at all — they would have killed (our efforts) — and we are. Sal Costello had to move out of the state, it got to be such a poor way to make a living."

The writer Michael A. Lindenberger, of the Dallas Morning News, deserves credit, as he tries to set the record straight within the article (although he's off by a couple of months with when my announcement took place) — But it's a better effort than the toll loving Austin American Statesman would ever do (Otherwise known as the Snakesman). Dallas news says this after Perry reimagines the facts:

"Note: Costello, founder of a group called Austin Toll Party, is credited with helping stop some taxpayer-funded roads in Austin from being converted to toll roads. His blistering attacks made him a prolific anti-toll road gadfly. He announced earlier this month he had moved to a small town in Illinois and given up what he called his costly “obsession” with campaigning against toll roads."

Search 1,000's of Muckraker articles via this MEGA-Muckraker search engine!

I hope you are all well.

We are doing well here.

Just CLICK HERE for the MEGA-Muckraker search engine! Type in Kirk Watson, TTC, Pete Peters, Dawnna Dukes, TxDOT, Brewster McCracken, Mark Strama and more to get your Muckraker fix at anytime.

Your Pal Sal
: )

Something to add

Something has really been under my skin since that Ben Wear/Statesman article below (about me leaving town).

Ben called me many times for interviews since 2004.

Just a few months back Ben Wear complimented me on breaking so many stories on my blog. But, in his article, he suggests I didn't have my facts straight, at times. He specifies that my facts on Mike Heiligenstein, executive director of the freeway tolling authority (CTRMA), being a "Deadbeat" was not correct.

The fact is Mike Heiligenstein is a friend of one of the editors of the Austin American Statesman.

My article even lists the case # so you can call the county to verify Anne Heiligenstein filed a "Income Witholding for Child Support" petition in Williamson County to force Mike Heiligenstein to pay $1,500 a month in child support.

Tollroad gadfly leaves Texas

Read Oak Hill Gazette's "Tollroad gadfly leaves Texas" HERE.

Statesman's perspective, "Anti-toll guerrilla has moved on down the road"

Read and comment on the Statesman's article, "Anti-toll guerrilla has moved on down the road" Here.

The Statesman endorsed the Austin toll plan on June 27, 2004. Read my article called "Austin American Snakesman" from 2006 here.

I Say Good-bye.

To all my friends, I say good-bye in this final post to my muckraker blog.

In 2004 I wondered if I could stop a toll tax on a 100% tax paid bridge near my home. Within a year, I found out that with a lot of hard work and a community of friends, together we could.

As is human nature, to always want more, I wanted to ax more freeway tolls from the Gov. Rick Perry/Sen. Kirk Watson double tax plans for Austin and Texas.

Success can take a toll on other areas of one’s life.

I would eat and sleep the fight for about four years, doing just enough to hold on to everything else as the months slipped away. A number of times that obsession came too close to taking my family and my home from me.

I decided to move on.

In early July we put our home up for sale and received a cash offer in 10 days. Part of the deal was a super fast closing. So within three weeks we went from a sign in the front yard to driving away in a U-Haul filled with everything we own towards Southern Illinois.

My new priorities are my health, my family and maximizing the efficiency of our 5 year old solar passive home.

I realized the other day that I moved from a city with 1,000,000 people to a town of 400.

There are moments that I feel some culture shock, but other than that, just about everything else is falling into place. Just day’s after moving here I created a rewarding working relationship with an organization in a nearby town that does great things for individuals and families in need.

I get to help my new community and I get paid for it.

To my past enemies: Those politicians who ignore the public will and have yet to be fired. I don’t wish evil on you. I don’t have to. I believe that the natural order of the world will take care of you just fine.

To all my great friends, I wish you all the best.
And, I say good-bye.
: )

UPDATE: The corrupt Austin Chronicle has tried to insult me with their latest article. Here is WHY.

Articles on how we changed CAMPO

Click HERE

Toller Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty FIRED! My next to last post.

TOLLER GERALD DAUGHERTY FIRED!

Daugherty, one of this years "Sleazy Six", who voted to toll roads we've already paid for in Austin, TX was my districts county Commish. Early in 2004 he voted against the toll roads, but from 2005 on he voted YES every single time. Ignoring the public outcry against tolling our public highways.

Last night he lost his re-election! Yeah! From the Statesman this morning:

"...Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty, a Republican who had been elected twice by his western Travis County precinct, narrowly lost to Democratic challenger Karen Huber.

Daugherty won 46.39 percent of the vote to Huber’s 48.53 percent, according to final election numbers.

“I think the people are speaking,” Huber said late Tuesday. “They want a change from the top of the ticket to the bottom.”

Huber, a former Republican, challenged Daugherty mainly on the grounds that development in western Travis County is out of control and that Daugherty should be doing more to manage it.

Her campaign rested on the idea that a sizable number of that precinct’s residents were angry with Daugherty. Huber’s election means three of the five county commissioners have said they want to test the legal limits of the county’s land-use authority.

Daugherty’s campaign focused on the idea that the precinct was still happy with his performance.

He pitched himself as a candidate willing to make tough choices — such as a controversial plan to build a series of toll roads that Daugherty considers necessary, while opposing county budgets and tax bills he considers too large. He was annually the lone commissioner to vote against the budget.

That toll-road vote appears to have cost Daugherty the election.

Libertarian Wes Benedict, the race’s third candidate who received 5.08 percent of the vote, said anger over the toll-road vote was a main reason for his running."

Wes is a great pal.

Daugherty met the fate of many stubborn elected officials who refuse to listed to the people they pretend to serve. Such as commish Karen Sonleitner, Mayor Dwight Thompson, and others. And many other crooks like Mike Krusee just knew they couldn't win and failed to try and run again.

See my many past posts about Daugherty HERE.

We've had a ton of accomplishments since 2004, when the double tax tolls were born in Austin, TX. There are still other snakes like Senator Kirk Watson that MUST be removed from office.

In the coming days I will make my very last post for this blog, and I'll tell you why.

Stay tuned.
: )

Red State Boys Talk Joe the Plumber

VOTE AGAINST TOLLERS Gerald Daugherty (Travis County Commish) AND Patrick Rose (Hays Co. State Rep)

VOTE AGAINST TOLLERS Gerald Daugherty (Travis County Commish, Republican) AND Patrick Rose (Hays Co. State Rep, Democrat) in the upcoming election. TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW.

OPEN THREAD

The Trans-Texas Corridors, eminent domain abuse, and the Texas Toll Road Rebellion

To see the latest toll and TTC News HERE

Austin Texas Double Tax Tollers Ignore The Law (with booking photos).

All these crooked clowns push the plan to toll public highways AND have ignored the laws.

Rep. Mike Krusee's DWI Booking Photo
Rep. Krusee Arrested for DUI

Austin Mayor Will Wynn Chokes Citizen.
Austin Freeway Tolling
Mayor Charged with Assault!

Judge Sam Biscoe DWI Arrest Photo
(YUP He's still the Judge today!)
Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe Arrested
for DWI, gets special treatment


Dwight Dallas Thompson Felony Arrest Photo
(Former Mayor of West Lake Hills)
Mayor Dwight Thompson Arrested for
trying to board a plane with a .38-caliber handgun.

Convicted Criminal Pete Peters and TxDOT
Criminal Connected to TxDOT
Freeway Tolling Scheme


Sen. Kirk Watson Works Hard to
Shift Austin Freeways to Tollways
While Making $450 an Hour from Taxpayers!
My Formal Letter to the DA's Office and More

Dig Up Some Muck - Do a Mega Muckraker Search - Click The Pic Below!

"We’re not just a little Podunk city and you can’t run us over."

Highway plans spurs formation of group

by Elaine Ayo, San Antonio Express-News


St. Hedwig has homes on large lots and a longtime tradition of rural living. And folks there want to keep it that way.

“We want to be able to maintain as best we can the reason we moved out here in the first place,” said Kathy Palmer, the city’s planning and zoning commissioner.

But a new master plan and recently updated zoning maps are no match for a proposed route of Trans-Texas Corridor 35 that would slice straight through the city of about 2,000 people and create headaches for several city departments, officials said.

Read the whole story HERE

Related Link: Texas 391 Commission Alliance

"People still need to drive and drink water, no matter what happens with the economy. It's not my job to worry about public policy."

You pay a lot more

What happens when the city leases public assets to private investors?

By Susan Chandler, Chicago Tribune

The price to park your car for an hour in the Millennium Park Garage has risen 31 percent, to $17, since the garage was leased to Morgan Stanley in 2006.

The cost to drive an auto across the Chicago Skyway is now 50 percent higher than it was in 2004, when Australian and Spanish investors paid $1.83 billion for a 99-year lease.

Could an $8 airport pretzel be next? How about a $10 luggage cart?

Those are real questions facing consumers as the city moves ahead on a landmark plan to lease Midway Airport to private operators.

Mayor Richard Daley has been ahead of the curve leasing public infrastructure such as the Skyway and underground parking garages as a way to raise cash. So it wasn't much of a surprise that in 2006 Chicago's Midway became the first large hub airport to apply under a Federal Aviation Administration pilot program to test privatization at five airports around the country.

The privatization of public assets has sparked a debate among academics and urban officials across the country about whether the leasing of bridges, roads and other infrastructure is a smart way to manage public resources over the long haul or just a desperate quick fix.

Read the whole article HERE