Harmony, Reality and a Hand Extension: A serious message from John Curry

"ORTA, like Allen (Gary), will have to extend their hand to Dennis first. How many times does one have to get kicked in the teeth before one says, 'Enough?'"

Amen, John. KBB

Harmony, Reality and a Hand Extension

I'm sorry, but the "why can't we just get along" well intentioned plea for CORE and ORTA to join hands and be one happy family is just not a realistic expectation at present. ORTA NEEDS to extend their hand FIRST to Dennis Leone and the thousands of STRS retirees they misrepresented by their failure to perceive problems at STRS BEFORE they became serious.

These "problems" were discovered and presented to the world when Dennis Leone (not ORTA) gave his 13 page presentation to the STRS Board in 2003. The majority of the current ORTA leadership (not membership) is in no way ready to extend this hand and won't in the near future. Their revolution from within is now in its infancy stage.

It will take years to accomplish this revolution with the governance structure that is currently in place at ORTA. Dave Speas has my utmost respect, but even Dave himself can not cause the hands of time to speed up. ORTA, like Allen (Gary), will have to extend their hand to Dennis first. How many times does one have to get kicked in the teeth before one says, "Enough?"

Had I become an ORTA life member, I would indeed be working in "the trenches" to reform an organization that is just now getting a grip on the reality of the sad situation at STRS. I chose not to join ORTA several years ago when I too became aware of what had really been going on at STRS and what hadn't at ORTA.

I will continue on with my efforts to reform STRS and I think that now ORTA will take steps in this direction. When, and if, they take the first step to extend their hand to Dennis -- I will then join them. That may be a while. Until then, I and ORTA will continue on our individual ways. We may have the same goals, but I choose to continue this battle without them.

The letter above is a summation of my own personal feelings and in no way represents an official CORE position.