Mary Ellen Angeletti: Minutes of April 2006 CORE meeting

The CORE Advisory Board met at STRS on Thursday, April 20th, 2006 at 11:45. In attendance were Kathie Bracy, Chuck Chapman, Tom Curtis, Nancy Hamant, Nancy Boomhower, Dave Parshall, and Mary Ellen Angeletti. Mary Ellen served as scribe. Guests attending the meeting were Ann Hanning, Lou DiOrio, State Representative Bob Otterman, and Senator Marc Dann.

Dave Parshall reported on the CORE financial fund noting that our balance has declined due to the expenditures for the STRS election which included printing costs, reimbursements to members who did their own printing of election flyers, and reimbursement for gasoline for members who traveled to speak for the candidates. Not all of these bills have been sent in so the financial fund balance will continue to be reduced during the month of April and into May. He also noted that since Susan Myers resigned from the CORE Advisory Board quite some time ago, her name had to be removed from CORE's financial account, and this was just accomplished a few weeks ago. Chuck Angeletti has agreed to add his name to the account, and we will attempt to get Susan's key to the mailbox returned to us. If not, we will have to purchase another key. The expenditure of a new key was approved by members today.

Dave Parshall then reported concerning the CORE website noting that our contract with the web master has been renewed for another year at the cost of $300.00 the same as the last two years. The suggestion to now remove the attorneys' statement of CORE's legal right to access school buildings for the purpose of disseminating STRS election information which is on our website was delayed. Following discussion, members decided it would be wise to leave in on the web site for the time being. We agreed that we would save the legal opinions to use for other elections.

A discussion of the STRS election followed as members shared what worked well for them in disseminating flyers and promoting our two candidates. Effective practices mentioned were letters to the editor of newspapers, giving election flyers to a known teacher to pass out at his/her school, visiting a school's superintendent's office and asking the super to disseminate flyers, giving flyers to a retiree who was subbing in the school system to put in teachers' mailboxes, and disseminating flyers at any and all executive meetings and RTA meetings. It was agreed that the most difficult locations were the universities. They seem to have a mindset against any and all requests to pass out anything for any group or cause. It is labeled 'POLITICAL' when it is not. Even with several candidates from universities, these locations were not receptive or knowledgeable. Handouts of Kathie Bracy's ideas for future STRS Board election campaigns was discussed and will be kept for reference for future campaigns. Ryan Holderman suggested that we use Google Earth (http://earth.google.com) on our search engines to show particular regions, and we can ask for location of schools on these map requests.

A discussion of the Hazel Sidaway trial followed, and it was moved by Bev McCoy and seconded by Dave Parshall that CORE investigate the purchase (with a maximum cap of $200.00) of the transcript of this trial as well as the transcript of Herb Dyer's testimony and plea agreement. The motion was passed unanimously. We need to find out how long these transcripts are available to the public, the charge for obtaining them, and Dave Parshall volunteered to ask our attorney if CORE could make a public request for a free copy. He will report back to us. Some members wanted to know the reasons for obtaining these transcripts, and it was thought that all future trials or plea agreements would be based on the testimony of this first trial and first plea agreement so transcripts would be useful references for CORE.

Members were reminded that Betty Montgomery will be our guest at the May 18th CORE meeting at STRS beginning at 11:45.

Bob Jones introduced State Representative Bob Otterman who spoke briefly to our group. He stayed for the entire STRS Board meeting.

Tom Curtis introduced Senator Marc Dann who addressed our group. He is currently running for the State Attorney General on the Democratic ticket (www.dannforohio.com). You will remember that it was Sen. Dann who exposed Noe and the Coingate scandal at the Bureau of Workman's Compensation. He promises to crack down on all Ohio scandals including encouraging prosecution for any civil actions taken against STRS Board members and staff for felony offenses. As Attorney General, he promises to free up money, to give warnings of analysis of Ohio constitutionality to the Ohio Senate, the Ohio House of Representatives, and the Ohio Governor BEFORE they take steps which could get them into trouble.

He is opposed to House Bill 530 which is the new school funding issue which would shift more school funding toward the property owner. He filed a protest against this bill and told why he was against it. He said he would use the Writ of Mandamus action against excessive amounts of contracts. It was brought to his attention that STRS retirees are still waiting for our audit promised in S.B. 130. He mentioned that we should be checking to be certain that any settlements which STRS received through lawsuits against Medco or Enron have actually been deposited in our Health Care Stabilization fund at STRS. He is presently the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee and has helped to pass tough laws cracking down on meth and other drugs.

As AG, he promises to work with law enforcement to crack down on meth labs and drug rings that import meth from labs in other states and countries. He also promises to investigate price gouging and price fixing by gas stations, oil refiners, and natural gas distributors. As State Senator, he wrote S.B. 85 to protect families who are pinched by layoffs or health care catastrophes from being victimized by the new federal bankruptcy laws. He is all for combating Medicaid fraud and nursing home abuse as well as protecting seniors from consumer scams. "It's time for the Attorney General's Office to get as tough on white collar crime and corruption as it is on drug dealers."

It was suggested that CORE members make contact with Judge Carrie E. Glaeden, the presiding judge in the Hazel Sidaway trial and the person who will sentence Ms. Sidaway at noon on Friday, May 12th, 2006 , for the purpose of encouraging more than a slap on the hand. Judge Glaeden can be reached by email at glaeden@fcmcclerk.com. For snail mail communication with the judge, her address is: Judge Carrie E. Glaeden, Franklin County Municipal Court, General Division, 375 South High Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, Courtroom 13A. This is also the location for the sentencing on May 12th.

There was also discussion of the STRS election process which is the same company hired to do the last election externally. Suggestions had been made by CORE members then that instead of a choice of snail mail voting, email voting, and telephone voting, that we have only one method which would lessen the possibility of voting irregularities. This issue was also brought up by OEA as they were quite upset with the last election. It was decided that this would be a good question for the next CORE/ Damon meeting.

The next CORE meeting will be held on Thursday, May 18th at 11:45 in the Sublett Room at STRS.

By Mary Ellen Angeletti