http://cbs11tv.com/investigators/local_ ... 73629.html

Aug 30, 2007 10:11 pm US/Central


Some Wealthy & Powerful Drive On Tollway For Free




Click here for a .pdf file listing people who have a free TollTag.


Click here for a .pdf file listing the NTTA's rules about who gets a free TollTag.



Bennett Cunningham
Reporting

(CBS 11 News) DALLAS Some very rich and powerful people are getting free TollTags – for life -- with virtually no limits on how many times they can ride for free.

A CBS 11 investigation found Dallas resident Jere Thompson with a free TollTag. He lives in a $1.4 million house, is CEO of a local electric company, and years ago served on the board of the North Texas Tollway Authority [N.T.T.A.]. According to records obtained by CBS 11, Thompson had more than 1200 transactions on the Dallas North Tollway in a recent 12 month period.

All of them were free.

Mr. Thompson told us he believes he's entitled to it for his years of service as a former NTTA board member.

The NTTA is a quasi-governmental agency and is funded with money from bonds and tollway revenue. But ask some people who don't get a free TollTag, like Dallas grandmother Margaret Diehl, and they’ll say, “I don't see any reason why they can’t pay like the rest of us.â€