2010 Government Watchdog Award
Brian Costin, as president and founder of the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition, won the Sam Adams Alliance’s 2010 Government Watchdog Award for advancing transparency and exposing waste in the village of Schaumburg.
As a result of his work, the village shut down one of the country’s most lucrative red light cameras. Costin saved taxpayers $15 million after exposing a fraudulent tax-break scam and, moreover, built a government transparency website when the village rejected his transparency measures. His work has been featured on the local Fox and ABC affiliates, Chicago Tonight, as well as in the Daily Herald and Chicago Tribune.
While the public goes about its daily business, a few brave investigators spend their free time uncovering the shady world of government waste, abuse, patronage, and fraud. Equipped with tactics like open-records laws, these individuals expose the malfeasance of elected officials, from dog catcher on up.
The Watchdog Award recognizes these individuals who dedicate time and resources to shine light on the murky underground of government cronyism.
