Congratulations and thanks to Executive Councilor Ray Wieczorek for his courage to request a pause, and further deliberation, before the state government raises tolls in Hampton to $1.50, and in Bedford and Hooksett to $1.00.
There are troubling questions that need to be answered before politicians glibly force on us higher costs for a turnpike system the operations of which appear to be very mismanaged.
Question one: More than two years ago, New Hampshire drivers were told that the impending “EZ Pass” system would not only save them time at the tolls, it would save the state money. There would arise systematic efficiencies as well as the ability of the state to let go of a few toll-takers it would no longer need. To thinking people, this seemed a bit sketchy, since Governor Lynch announced that the discount for “EZ Pass” would be 30%, rather than the 50% that was given for the tokens. Why, one thought, would you offer less of a discount for a more efficient system that would allow the state to cut employees and save money? Hmm… Perhaps the answer was that the government wanted more money, or that the system was not as efficient as they purported.
Question Two: Upon initiating “EZ Pass”, why did the state refuse to accept tokens it had sold to customers under the previous pretext that they could be redeemed? This forced those people to lose a lot of their own money, but, of course, it gave the government a windfall. It also led to the inevitable and absurd situation of seeing toll takers posted at the “exact change” lanes, where they would take into their hands all change to be tossed at the collection bins, hold it, stare at it to make sure there were no evil tokens in the group of coins, and then, yeah, you got it, toss them into the bins themselves, doing what the drivers could have done if the state had lived up to its agreements to those who had already bought tokens! This cute little situation led to backups in the tolls, and the wonderful situation of the state jailing a Braintree, MA, man for three days after he was found guilty of using the tokens he had bought from NH before “EZ Pass”, under the belief that the state would uphold its end of the deal. As that man, Thomas Jensen, told me and other reporters, “I could have written a check for $150.00, but I was the one who was wronged.” Indeed, Mr. Jensen was wronged, and so were many others. As Mr. Jensen and others like us have asked, why didn’t the state simply continue to accept the tokens it had sold, thus making good on its promises, and then simply stop selling them. Eventually, the tokens would be out of the system, and toll-takers would not have had to have been paid to stare at handfuls of coins before tossing them into the bins. Ugh!
Question Three: Why did Governor John Lynch continue into the fall of 2005 to sell “EZ Pass” transponders for $5.00 each – or $14.00 below what they cost the state – when a law passed in late spring of ’05 ordered that all transponders were to be sold at $19.00 beginning in July? And why did then-employee Carol Murray claim that she had been called by Lynch into a meeting in July to figure out ways to continue selling them at this massive loss, despite the law that had just been passed?!
Has anyone asked about the fact that the NH Governor is alleged to have broken the law? And had anyone quantified the massive amount of money lost by the state during that period of lawbreaking?
We found out some answers when I recently interviewed the Assistant Commissioner of Transportation. In mid-September, I asked him if we had actually seen any of the toll takers let go. He was honest an answered “no”. I asked him if we had seen any savings from the supposed “efficiencies” John Lynch lauded. The answer, to paraphrase: “No, we have not. EZ Pass is a very complicated system to run.” I asked him how much money was lost in 2005 due to John Lynch’s breach of the law, and his continued insistence that the transponders be sold at $14.00 less than what they cost the state, and the answer was, drumrolllllll: “$5 million”… Great.
I asked him about the supposed rationale that there are lots of bridges that are “red-lined” and need fixing now. Weren’t these “red-lined” years ago, and what happened to the money budgeted to fix them in previous legislative sessions?
He agreed, that, yes, many had been noted before, and money had been allocated to fix them, but, well, it just didn’t happen.
So what happened to that money?
One hopes that the courage of Councilor Wieczorek will help us get some answers to these questions. Before NH drivers are strong-armed to pay for gubernatorial mismanagement and possible malfeasance, there are some important points to be addressed. One feels certain that John Lynch would rather not have them in the public eye.