Mary Ellen Angeletti: Letter to Judge Maynard

From Mary Ellen Angeletti
December 27, 2005

Judge W. Dwayne Maynard

Franklin County Municipal Court
375 South High Street

Columbus, Ohio 43017

Dear Judge Maynard,

After three years of trying to stop the bleeding of the State Teachers Retirement System, I have come to the conclusion that people who engage in the violation of the state ethics codes and commit misdemeanors, undermine the integrity of the pension fund. We need to send a strong message to these people in power at STRS and the other pension funds that the government will not stand for this rape of the teachers' and public money. All the misdemeanors stem from September of 1998 to June of 2003 when Hazel Sidaway was a member of the STRS Board. During this time of frivolous spending, STRS pension fund lost 12 to 17 billion dollars. 75 million dollars was lost in Enron alone as they let the stock run down to zero. It seems as if the investment division of STRS never heard of a stop order. We are still two billion dollars behind where we should be this year (2005), and our pension fund has a 55 year unfunded liability. Hazel Sidaway is not the only one responsible for this fiasco, but that does not condone her actions. When STRS Executive Director Herb Dyer was kicked out, he walked away with $550,000. of our money, and the Ohio Education Association helped him accomplish this little feat. Guess what, we had the protection of the Attorney General Petro and Betty Montgomery as representatives on the STRS Board during this period. Herb Dyer got a $1,000. fine a slap on the hand. This is not going to teach anybody a lesson in ethics or instill fear to commit a crime. Crime DOES pay in the pension funds in Columbus. Workmans Compensation waited too long to solve their problem. Why would one let anybody invest public money in coins or a hedge fund? Moral decay is setting in our public pension funds, and we must stop it. PLEASE send a strong message as you determine Hazel Sidaway's sentence.

Mary E. Angeletti
Retired Columbus Public Schools Educator