FLASHBACK, June 2003: With a stroke of the pen, Taft covered Montgomery and Petro's hind end & others

Hindsight surely reveals now why Bob Taft quickly and craftily line-item vetoed a request for funding for the Inspector General to investigate STRS and other Ohio pension systems. Some will say that the Ohio Ethics Commission has and is investigating STRS and others,some have been convicted, so why worry? My reply to them is that the Ohio Ethics Commission has no authority to accomplish felony prosecution -- they can't do a forensic audit or order one done -- they can only turn over felony evidence they find to the Franklin County Prosecutor -- Ron O'Brien. You know, the same guy who Mr. Petro held a "fund raiser" for in Cleveland earlier this year in a campaign that O'Brien dropped after Montgomery decided that she wanted to be Attorney General (again) and not Governor! Nothing like the potential of the fox investigating the chicken coop when many of the chickens were his political friends. John Curry

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Leone said Montgomery and Petro may face conflicts of interest because both are members of the retirement board.

“Is (Montgomery) going to audit herself?” Leone said. “How can they deal effectively with an issue on a board they serve.”

Taft says no to probe of STRS by inspector

Canton Repository, June 23, 2003
By Paul E. Kostyu
Copley Columbus Bureau chief

COLUMBUS -- Gov. Bob Taft shut down an investigation of the State Teachers Retirement System by vetoing budget language that would have allowed the Ohio inspector general to pry into the practices of pension fund boards.

The governor’s veto did not sit well with Sen. Kirk Schuring, R-Jackson Township, who had asked Inspector General Thomas Charles to investigate STRS in light of reports in the past three weeks about excessive spending on salaries, bonuses, artwork purchases and travel.

Charles, who had pushed to have the language inserted in the budget, was preparing to start an investigation Tuesday, when the budget goes into effect.

Taft said the retirement systems already are subject to Ohio ethics laws and oversight by the Ohio Retirement Study Council.

But Schuring called those oversight functions “empty and hollow,” and suggested that the governor “better read the statute.”

Dennis Leone, who dug into the spending habits of the STRS board and its executive director, Herbert L. Dyer, was scheduled to meet with Charles next week to brief him on what the Chillicothe superintendent discovered. Charles began collecting information by attending a press conference Wednesday of lawmakers who have demanded Dyer’s resignation.

“I hope they don’t sweep this under the rug,” Leone said.

Charles said “officially” he stands by an earlier statement that his office “could provide needed oversight to the pension systems.” He would not comment further.

Leone said Charles told him just days ago that he expected Taft to keep the oversight language in the budget bill.

Schuring said he may ask Ohio Auditor Betty Montgomery and Attorney General Jim Petro to conduct investigations of STRS. He also said he will consider legislation to give the retirement study council more power to control pension boards.

Leone said Montgomery and Petro may face conflicts of interest because both are members of the retirement board.

“Is (Montgomery) going to audit herself?” Leone said. “How can they deal effectively with an issue on a board they serve.”

Laura Ecklar, a spokeswoman for STRS, said the system did not lobby Taft to veto the budget language. She said STRS officials maintain there is legislative authority now “to look at everything that has to do with the pension plans.”

Taft said he would work with lawmakers to “provide additional, reasonable oversight and enforcement tools” to the council.

“I’m disappointed with the governor, given the current state of affairs at STRS,” Schuring said. “Considering the waste, fraud and abuse, the inspector general would have been perfectly suited to do an investigation.”

You can reach Columbus Bureau Chief Paul E. Kostyu at (614) 222-8901 or e-mail:

paul.kostyu@cantonrep.com