Editorial by John Curry: Donuts for votes? Good one, OEA! (By the way, you still have some dirty laundry to tend to)

"Will current and future OEA-backed STRS Board members be nothing more than puppets for the OEA “company line” when it comes to critical decisions affecting retirees or will they think for themselves and the betterment of the lives of retirees that they have a fiduciary responsibility to? There are too many stones yet unturned."

May 7, 2006

Well, the election’s over and we (the OFT also) didn't win! This statement begs the question, “Why?” The following is only my opinion and I would like that to be understood before I go into my theory as to WHY? There are multiple reasons and I would like to touch upon each one:

MONEY: The OEA, in the past, has spent over $100,000 in a former unsuccessful attempt to see that Eugene Norris was reelected to the STRS Board. This time around they spent who knows how much?

COMMUNICATION WITH A CAPTIVE AUDIENCE: After suffering losses in the past two STRS elections and SB 133, the OEA finally realized that their control was rapidly loosening its grip over the STRS. They concentrated upon indoctrinating their local leaders (local chapter presidents) concerning the necessity to be more active when it came to regaining control of the teachers retirement system.

What the OEA didn't tell local leaders was the sordid history of a retirement system that had an ugly past, but is now in a state of reform. A system recently dominated by an OEA majority of entitlement, Ohio ethics law violations, misspending, and arrogance. We CORE members are well aware of this, but a majority of the rank and file classroom teachers still haven't the slightest idea. These teachers, a majority of whom are many years away from retiring, didn't have the time nor interest in reading anything that didn't have an immediate impact on their classroom or their current paychecks. You and I were one of these teachers not that many years ago.

Just how many times, as a young teacher, did you take the STRS ballot and throw it in the trash can so that you could continue to grade papers at your desk rather than worry about something years down the road?

LACK OF COMMUNICATION TO THE PUBLIC: The only newspapers in who Ohio who gave any decent coverage to the STRS scandal (yes, it was a scandal) and ethics convictions were the Canton Repository and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The Toledo Blade, whose excellent investigative reporting and the subsequent series of editorials led to the arrest of BWC’s corruption king Tom Noe, didn't even mention Hazel Sidaway’s recent conviction. We didn't receive the broad coverage that the Police and Fire people received when their board members traveled the world (families included) with their dime.

A DONUT FOR A VOTE: I will have to give the OEA credit for this one. This was the most important factor in the defeat of CORE backed candidates. The OEA finally discovered the real way to insure that those STRS ballots were filled out (to their way of liking) and turned in rather than thrown in the trash can. Recently a directive was sent to local presidents suggesting that the teachers (a captive audience) meet before the beginning of the school day at the school to have donuts and refreshments. It doesn't take very long to scarf down a donut, drink a cup of java, and place two checkmarks on a ballot. More votes were salvaged by this reason than all the other reasons put together. Was this an example of buying votes? I'll let you be the judge of that one!

What now, will some of us take the path that will see us attempt to “kiss up” to those who have oppressed us and raped our retirement benefits because of a loss at the ballot box? Will we take the approach -- “Why can't we just all get along?”

Well, for one, this CORE member will continue to plod along -- educating the educators as to what has happened and why. With truth comes power. Not enough educators yet know the truth. The job of educating the educators is not finished.

What will become of the strained but still somewhat still friendly relationship between the OFT and the OEA? What will be the result of the class action lawsuit against the OEA for loss of benefits by retired OEA staffers (the lawsuit that the OEA doesn't want to talk about)? Will Conni Ramser finally read Dennis Leone’s 13 page presentation to the STRS Board back in 2003? How many more current/former STRS Board members/associates will be served subpoenas for misdemeanors or will there be felony arrests for evidence tampering to cover up the history of gratuities and other crimes of a felonious nature? Will current and future OEA-backed STRS Board members be nothing more than puppets for the OEA “company line” when it comes to critical decisions affecting retirees or will they think for themselves and the betterment of the lives of retirees that they have a fiduciary responsibility to? There are too many stones yet unturned. One thing is for sure - this STRS retiree will never coalesce with the current OEA leadership. We retirees (and tens of thousands of unknowing active teachers) lost a battle, but we DIDN'T LOSE THE WAR!

John, still a very PROUD CORE MEMBER and still dedicated to “educating the educators” about the rape of our retirement system. curryjo@watchtv.net