John Curry to Jim Petro: Will you heed your obligation to protect our funds?

Mr Petro,

I will begin this open and brief letter to you by stating that I am a benefits recipient of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio and have dedicated 30 years to teaching Ohio's youth in an Ohio public school system. I wish to ask you what your office will do concerning the 1.75 million dollars that a Franklin Co. Court judge (Guy L. Reece II) has recently ruled belongs to the non-investments staff at Ohio STRS. This is 1.75 million dollars in bonuses that you requested your representative on the STRS Board to vote against (when you were an STRS Board member) when this issue was voted on by the STRS board. Since then, a class action law suit has been filed by several of the non-investment staff of the STRS against the STRS. As a result, the Franklin Co. judge ruled that this money is to go to the plaintiffs. Your office is obligated to fight for the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio to protect this money. Will you?

I'll put this into political perspective; you have put your hat into the ring to run for the Governor of the State of Ohio. There are over 100,000 STRS retirees. There are over 400,000 active teachers and non-actives who still have monies invested with STRS. These 500,000 people have spouses, families, and friends. They also will be watching to see how this is addressed or not addressed by your office. Will you heed your obligation to protect these 1.75 million dollars from a frivolous lawsuit based on bonuses that may have been promised or implied to the non-investments staff (all "at-will" employees - not contractual employees) during a time when STRS was losing billions of dollars in investments and retirees' health care premiums were skyrocketing?

Thank you, John Curry - a Proud CORE member (Concerned Ohio Retired Educators)
10/22/05