3 YEARS AGO -- The year the Ohio Legislature didn't put their votes where their mouth was -- and still haven't!

From John Curry, July 7, 2006

(Fellow educators, please share this message with your local representative or senator. If they were representing you in the summer of 2003, maybe they can explain. If they weren't, maybe they will issue you a promise - along with a handshake.)

Dear Legislator,

Political talk is cheap- political action is much harder to come by. In July of 2003, Ohio legislators had just become aware of Dennis Leone's 13 page findings re. the mismanagement, misspending, and entitlement philosophy of those who were in control of our State Teachers Retirement System. An excellent piece of investigative journalism by Stephen Ohlemacher had just graced the front page of a June Sunday edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer which exposed additional shameful statistics concerning the operation of the Ohio STRS that raised the hackles of even people who were far-removed from the realm of either politics or education.

What, reconvene for a legislative for an override? Why, it was the July 4 holiday and pols had to visit the local carnivals and county fairs so that they could further enhance their standings among the good people of their fair districts - they could always come back and visit this "critical" problem at a later date, couldn't they? WELL, THEY DIDN'T! Ever since that legislative intermission, our representatives who have given lip service to a serious investigation by the Ohio Inspector General have seemingly forgotten their past utterances - and - here we are after three years of time and three STRS officials being convicted of ethics violations (with many more coming down the pike) and still no IG investigation. Might the IG have discovered a little too much? Did some of these House and Senate members who received campaign donations from the STRS officials (especially their parent organizations) fear that maybe too much bad press would result should the IG findings become ugly? After all, unlike the Ohio Ethics Commission, the IG is not limited to misdemeanors. The bottom line is- we'll never know, will we? And Betty (Montgomery), a performance audit, as compared to a forensic audit(from a guy's standpoint), is a little like kissing one's sister! Thank you, Ohio Legislators -not all of you, but most of you- for forgetting! In case you might have forgotten, a Paul Kostyu article will follow which quotes some of you and your words of action that never materialized.

John Curry

One proud Concerned Ohio Retired Educators member and a not-so-proud Buckeye.

One of 130,000+ Ohio STRS retirees who are still awaiting your forgotten action but haven't forgotten how to vote.

________

Montgomery seeks law to review STRS practices Canton Repository, July 8, 2003 By Paul E. Kostyu Copley Columbus Bureau chief COLUMBUS — State Auditor Betty Montgomery now wants regular and independent performance reviews of the State Teachers Retirement System. Montgomery is working with Ohio Sen. Kirk Schuring, R-Jackson Township, and Rep. Michelle Schneider, R-Cincinnati, to craft a law that would require reviews of the pension fund’s investments and management practices. Montgomery said her office is equipped to handle the audit, but an outside firm should be hired so it is independent of the fund. A representative of Montgomery’s office as well as the offices of the attorney general and state superintendent of schools are voting members of the STRS board. The pension fund would be required to pay for the audit. “Members of our public pension funds deserve to know that their dollars are being invested and managed properly,” Montgomery said. Meanwhile, legislators from both parties want the House and Senate to return from their summer break to override a line-item veto by Gov. Bob Taft that prevents the state’s inspector general from investigating STRS and the other four state pension funds. Rep. Tim Grendell, R-Chesterland, sent a letter last week to House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, and Senate President Doug White, R-Manchester, asking that both chambers reconvene to deal with the issue. Nearly 50 members of the General Assembly signed the letter, though Grendell said he would have had more if not for the July 4 holiday. “The independent power of the inspector general’s office would only strengthen oversight capabilities,” he said. Minority leaders in the Senate and the House backed the veto override. Sen. Gregory DiDonato, D-New Philadelphia, joined by eight other Senators asked White to “join our colleagues in the House in a push to provide Ohio’s pensioners greater safeguards.” DiDonato said, “Taft has made a terrible error in vetoing this provision.” Rep. Chris Redfern, D-Catawba Island, said, “We need to give taxpayers confidence that this sort of mismanagement can never happen again.” Maggie Mitchell, a spokeswoman for White, said reconvening the Senate is not something that he has talked about with staff or other senators. Dwight Crum, a spokesman for Householder, said Grendell’s request has not been reviewed, and members have not been contacted. Because the line-item veto occurred on a House bill, overriding it would have to originate in the House. On another front, Schuring is backing legislation by Sen. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, to give Inspector General Thomas P. Charles the power to investigate the pension funds. Schuring also has introduced Senate Bill 105 with bipartisan support that would require officials and employees of the five pension funds to file financial disclosures statements with the Ohio Ethics Commission. The flurry of legislative activity comes in the wake of a revelations that STRS spent $16.1 million in staff bonuses since August 2000, according to newly computed figures, as well as millions more on board travel and artwork at its headquarters, while the fund’s portfolio lost $12.3 billion. Members of STRS are discussing how to prepare a class-action lawsuit. There also are plans to organize a protest march from the Statehouse to STRS headquarters at the fund’s next board meeting Aug. 15. Schuring said he will participate in the march. You can reach Columbus Bureau Chief Paul E. Kostyu at (614) 222-8901 or e-mail: paul.kostyu@cantonrep.com