Tom Curtis to Jim & Janet Gibson: Coming to Clermont County RTA March 15

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Hello Jim & Janet Gibson,

Thank you for the invitation to speak to your Clermont Co. RTA on March 15th. I accept your invitation and will call you to discuss what your group would like me to convey to them. I have been a continual attendee of the monthly STRS board meetings for 3-years and attended the 3-day board retreat at the beginning of this month. I feel well versed, (from a non-board member point of view) on issues and concerns of the STRS retiree.

As you may know, I have worked closely with Dennis Leone and started corresponding with him prior to his initial 13- page report that brought all of the STRS misspending into the public eye. Since that time I have grown to know Dennis much better and feel the utmost respect and gratitude for his efforts and have never found him to be anything but a true professional, even when he strongly has disagreed with someone else's opinion. I hold nothing but admiration for Dennis, which has compelled me to spend the amount of time I have devoted to this reform process.

Though I have little interest in becoming a board member, I will attempt to help support Dennis Leone and John Lazares in their efforts to curb the spending at the STRS and to find ways to fund our health care situation. I am working on this issue with another retiree in the event the increase in contributions does not succeed.

I look forward to speaking to the Clermont Co. RTA and will accept any stipend your organization might offer, as all CORE members have always paid their own expenses for the most part. We have only accepted reimbursement for printing and postal expenses during the election period for the candidates CORE has endorsed. However, if you offer no stipend, I will still gladly speak to your RTA, as a service to my fellow educators.

If I might, I would also like you to invite one of the STRS candidates, Thomas Hall, to attend with me. That is, if he can get away from his duties at Miami University on that date. It is imperative that the candidates be seen by those who might be in contact with active, inactive or disability retirees that will be voting in the spring election. I have attached a picture of Thomas Hall.

I will await to hear back from you before by email before calling you.

Sincerely,

Tom Curtis

CORE Advisory Committee Member