Tom Curtis to Sen. Zurz: Ethical Reform

From Tom Curtis, June 21, 2006

Subject: Ethical Reform

Hello Matt,

Thank you for the copy of SB 133. I am aware of it's content, as I was asked to represent Ohio retirees by Dr. Dennis Leone and spoke to the signing committee the day it was signed. I have one of Gov. Taft's pens from having done such.

However, the ethics bills I referred to in the article I sent Senator Zurz would have to do with the General Assembly in Ohio. The General Assembly is the leadership that must first set the standard all others are to follow.

If pay to play is going to continue, then people on the various boards across the state are going to follow that example and feel that because everyone else is doing it, it is OK for them to do so.

I am disappointed that the legislature has allowed our state to stoop to the low standards they have followed for many years now. I realize not all are corrupt, but they obviously are not in a majority or things would be different.

Because Education cannot be a pay to play player, it would appear that the General Assembly does not seem to care about education in Ohio. The Supreme Court has ordered the General Assembly to restructure the funding of education in Ohio I believe 3 times now. They have ignored the court on all 3 occasions.

What is it going to take to get our economy back on track in Ohio? Ohio is headed for a disaster economically. It may already be there, but reporting being what it is today, no one would really know it until everything collapses.

Thank you for responding,

Tom Curtis

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From: Matt Smydo, June 21, 2006

Tom:

The last time we really looked at revamping the retirement boards was in the 125th General Assembly. I have attached a summary of the legislation.

Please let me know if this helps.

Thanks Tom,

Matt

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From: Sara Kaminski On Behalf Of Senator Zurz, June 19, 2006

To: Matt Smydo

Subject: FW: 061906 Curtis To Senator, Ethical Reform
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From: Tom Curtis, June 19, 2006

To: Senator Zurz

Hello Matt,

Actually, the bills discussed in the article are in Congress and not the Ohio General Assembly, but Ohio should be addressing these issues and drafting their own legislation. Do you know of any move to do such?

Tom Curtis

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From: Senator Zurz, June 13, 2006 7:57 AM

Subject: RE: 052106 Curtis To Senator, Ethical Reform

Mr. Curtis:

I would like to look into this important request.

We have dealt with many ethics legislation lately. What bill numbers are you referring to?

Thank you,

Matt

Matthew J. Smydo

Legislative Aide

Office of Senator Kimberly Zurz

Assistant Minority Leader

Statehouse

Columbus, Ohio 43215

614-466-7041

1-866-270-0938 (toll free)

msmydo@maild.sen.state.oh.us

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From Tom Curtis, May 21, 2006

Subject: Ethical Reform

Hello Senator,

This message comes from a retired teacher who has been highly involved for the past 3-years in helping to bring about the much-needed reform at the STRS. I have worked side by side with Dr. Dennis Leone, the whistle blower who brought the STRS misspending to light.

I realize I may not be in your district, but I reach hundreds of thousands of STRS members by email every day. You can be assured that we are very conscious about ethics violations and blame many Ohio government officials for turning their backs on us.

Two former fiduciaries of the STRS have been found guilty of ethics violations to date, with many more awaiting the same fate. However, those convictions do nothing to replace the millions of dollars misspent by these fiduciaries.

Ethics violations are becoming far too common and are reaching epidemic proportion. Our state is the laughing stock of the country concerning this issue.

You hold a position that could help to call for the remedy of much of this. Yet, neither of the bills currently being considered by the House and the one passed by the Senate address the ethics issue properly. This is sad!

Neither bill includes provisions for enforcement nor outside monitoring, which is where current rules governing lobbying really fall down.

As stated by Fred Wertheimer, a Washington reform coalition head, "The bill does nothing about fixing the scandalous, failed House ethics enforcement system, nothing about preventing corporations from making company planes available to members at deeply discounted costs, nothing about providing the public with information about the fund-raisers lobbyists hold for members, the parties they finance to 'honor' members, and the conferences and retreats held by members for which the lobbyists pay, and nothing about providing the public with information about the huge sums being secretly spent by professional lobbying firms on campaigns to stimulate lobbying by the public, including multimillion dollar advertising campaigns."

You were elected to your position to do better then this. Please take your oath to heart and address this issue of ethics properly, instead of passing a bill that is basically useless for the stake of passing something.

Again, I realize I may not live in your district, but teachers alone represent 430,000 votes. I have contact by email with many of them almost daily.

Best Regards,

Thomas Curtis,

Life Member of the STRS, CORE, ORTA, SCRTA & AARP