Tom Curtis and RH Jones on candidacy of Tom Hall

Sent: Monday, November 28, 2005

Subject: 112805 Curtis Resp To Jones Resp; Re Curtis To All; Why Mr. Hall is Running For The STRS Board

Hello Bob,

Tom Hall placed himself in the ring for the seat vacated by Jack Chapman in 2004. He has no affiliation with any unions or to my knowledge any other group. He simply read that there was a vacancy on the board in 2004 and decided he would like to become a board member and applied.

I was at the STRS board meeting when each of the five candidates had their vita's available and presented by the STRS to the public. When I reviewed the five candidates, Tom Hall stood far above any of the other candidates, concerning what I felt he could bring to the board. He has knowledge of our economy and skills in documentation in this area. CORE was supporting Jim Norris for that seat and knew nothing about Tom Hall. After the farce of an election, Conni Ramser was elected by a board of OEA people. Joe Endry voted for Conni despite the fact that the ORTA had endorsed Jim Norris. Afterwards, I introduced myself to Tom Hall and indicated that I thought he was the most qualified candidate and had the most to offer the board.

He thanked me, but said he was very disappointed and actually embarrassed that a H.S. Special Ed. teacher with no business experience at all had won. I simply told him that he probably had little knowledge of the fact that only politics chose the winner and it had nothing to do with qualifications. Conni Ramser, on the other hand, only has the background she has gained through working as a local union president and with the OEA executive committee. She really is very unqualified for a board seat, considering what a board member is expected to vote on each month. What an unknowing board does is often err in the favor of others. That is what this board is doing right now in agreeing to pay the bonuses to the non-investment staff. This is exactly why the STRS is where it is today. We had a group of OEA people who thought they possessed the intelligence to guide the operation, but were all very lacking in a business background. This kind of thing cannot be continued.

If Conni Ramser is elected this spring, she will then be the STRS chairwomen of the Board for the next year, as she is co-chair this year to Bob Brown. Bob Brown is not running for election. The co-chair position then moves into the chair the next year, according to board rules. Conni has NO business being on the board, as far as bringing value to the board is concerned. Further, she certainly has NO credentials to be the CEO. End of discussion.

Yes, she asks a lot of questions, she is not hard on the eyes, and she is probably dedicated to the job. But the bottom line is this, we need people in those seats that will have some skills or knowledge to bring to the board and bring it up to the level it needs to be, in order to deal with the Damon Asbury, Bob Slater and Steve Mitchel types that are still calling the shots. She has none of that. Bob Brown is a college math professor and supposedly has actuarial skills, but you have seen him in action, he is a disgrace. He has little to offer our board and has no intention of continuing on. That is exactly why he was chosen over John Lazares and Conni Ramser for Hazel Sidaways vacated seat. That board did not want anyone that would present and objections to what they were attempting to do. Bob Brown has been that person. He has made no contribution to anything that I have witnessed since he has been there.

If the STRS is going to be turned around within the next five years, we have to have qualified people on the board, not school teachers that have little more then classroom experience to offer. It is obvious, that the staff out smarted the prior board on all fronts. What a bunch of self-important people those board members thought they were.

Take care,

Tom Curtis

----- Original Message -----

From: RH Jones

Sent: Sunday, November 27, 2005

Subject: Fwd: Fw: 112605 Curtis To All; Why Mr. Hall is Running For The STRS Board

John & Tom,

This fellow sounds good. His "Why I am running for the STRS Board" is simple direct and right on target! To simplify in such an effective manner is a sign of intelligence. However, before we endorse him we need to check out his background. We need to "trust but verify" Is he part of the political power structure that has "Grabbed Our Pension"? We don't need another professor like Brown setting on our board nodding his head in agreement and then voting away our pension. Brown was trained in economics but ignores 3307.15. Once on the board, sometimes they change. How will he "guarantee" us that he will follow through on his promises? Can he be trusted? We've been "burnt" in the past.

RHJones