Tuesday, August 15, 2006

FLASHBACK -- 3 years ago -- Secrecy Still Prevailed @ STRS Despite The Sacrificial Lamb Departure and following commentary

"The board was giving poor directions. It needs to look deeper than the executive director." (Senator Wachtmann) He called Dyer “the sacrificial lamb."
Date: August 14, 2003, Canton Repository

STRS board won’t reveal names of candidates for board seat
By PAUL E. KOSTYU Copley Columbus Bureau chief

COLUMBUS — The State Teachers Retirement System plans to keep secret the names of people who have applied for a board seat that’s been open since July 1.

One lawmaker says that’s a mistake.

After telling the Ohio Retirement Study Council on Wednesday that the pension fund intends to communicate better and more openly with its 413,219 members, board Chairwoman Deborah Scott refused to comment about who has applied to be on the board.

Damon Asbury, interim director of the public pension fund for teachers, also said the board only will release the names of finalists once the current board decides who they are. Those names will be released Friday.

The deadline to apply for the board seat is today. Each member of the board can nominate a person as a finalist. Thus, there could be as many as eight candidates or as few as one.

Asbury said none of the names of those who are not finalists will be released.

John Lazares, superintendent of the Warren County Educational Service Center, has made no secret of his candidacy for the seat. He said he didn’t think the STRS board can keep the names secret.

“I’m letting everybody know I’m a candidate,” he said. “They should be open about everything.”

Lazares said if the board wants to restore members’ faith in the pension fund, then it “needs to overemphasize” openness. “When you work for the public sector, what we do is public record. I don’t know what the big deal is. If I was on the board, you’d get the names.”

The board expects to name a successor to Hazel Sidaway of Plain Township — who retired from teaching and the board — by its September meeting.

Cynthia Hvizdos, the retirement system’s lawyer, said Ohio law allows the list to be withheld from members and the public. She also said Wednesday the office of Attorney General Jim Petro advised the pension system that it need not release the letters of applicants for the board seat.

Petro’s office refused to release the letter it sent the system on the subject, saying it falls under attorney-client privilege.

Copley Newspapers has been seeking the list of applicants for more than a month.

Sen. Lynn R. Wachtmann, R-Napoleon, and chairman of the study council, said he was not aware that the candidate list was not public, but said it should be. He said he would send a letter to the board Wednesday encouraging that the list be made public and asking for an immediate response.

“That strikes me as being very problematic,” Wachtmann said. “It is extraordinarily important that you have an open process. The retirees out there ought to know who is under consideration. Everybody ought to know. I don’t understand what they would be hiding from.”

“We know who’s running for governor of California,” added Aristotle L. Hutras, executive director of the study council.

Hvizdos said in a July 31 letter to Copley Newspapers that, although records of the pension fund generally are public, there are exceptions. Those include material dealing with “an individual’s personal history record, which is defined to include member records that include address, telephone, Social Security number, record of contributions and correspondence with the retirement system.”

Wachtmann responded, “We can change the law.”

Copley attorney David Marburger of Cleveland said Hvizdos is involved in “lawyer games of semantics playing.” Copley Newspapers contend the list should be made available under Ohio’s public-records law.

“We are specifically prohibited from sharing that information,” Asbury insisted. “The board has a rule and a process that they have agreed to on how the filling of Ms. Sidaway’s seat will occur. That includes that they will have the opportunity to review the letters of interest and they will be prepared to make nominations on Friday.”

Asbury confirmed that retirement system members would have no way of knowing who wanted to be on the board but was not selected. “If those rules are changed in the future, it would be handled differently,” he said.

The board is holding committee meetings today to talk about travel, picking a successor to former Executive Director Herb Dyer, spending, compensation and other issues raised by recent media reports, said Laura Ecklar, a board spokeswoman.

During Wednesday’s study council meeting,

• Scott said board members should be required to fill out evaluation forms about meetings they attend. Her comment followed a story by Copley Newspapers that board members, including Scott, rarely file reports intended to help current and future board members decide what meetings to attend.

• Wachtmann said the removal of Dyer as the pension system’s executive director was not enough. He called Dyer “the sacrificial lamb.” He added, “It doesn’t make it all better. He was acting at the direction of the board. The board was giving poor directions. It needs to look deeper than the executive director.”

Scott responded, “We need to look at changing the way we do business. The board is very committed to interacting with members.”

Sen. Kirk Schuring, R-Jackson Township, and a council member, told Scott that “two-way communication is fundamental. It should be interactive in nature.”

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

paul.kostyu@cantonrep.com



This page was created August 14, 2003
©2004 The Repository

Note from John:
In the three years since Dyer's departure, neither the Inspector General nor a team of forensic auditors have had the opportunity to "look deeper" into the inner workings of the Dyeresque higher eschelon staff who have or are still drawing a paycheck from STRS.
A few "sacrificial lamb" misdemeanor convictions (thanks to the Ohio Ethics Commission) have come to fruition, but no felonies to date. The OEC has to turn over any potential felony evidence to the county prosecutor - they can't act on felonies - they can only refer on. Is it because no felonies were committed, no IG investigation was initiated, no forensic audit was ordered, or because of the political friendship that exists between the current Franklin County Prosecutor (Ron O'Brien) and former Board member Jim Petro. Petro WAS on the STRS Board (along with Betty Montgomery) when the Broadway Harispray tickets were distributed, the golf outings (of Chapman and Dyer) were enjoyed, and the dinners and ball games by Sidaway were attended.
Petro (earlier this year) sponsored a campaign fundraiser for Ron O'Brien in Cleveland - O'Brien soon after dropped out of the AG race as Betty Montgomery played the musical chairs game (again) and decided to run for Attorney General. I am sure that Mr. O'Brien wouldn't want to see any additional egg on the faces of Jimmy and Betty due to a lack of vigilance of the STRS operations while on their watch.
County prosecutors have been known to "trash" potential felony cases stating that there was a "lack of evidence" and they also have trashed cases while giving no reason at all. These prosecutors only have to answer to their voting electorate and the current Attorney General (Petro) - do you think the majority of voters in Franklin County have a real interest in the day-to- day activities of STRS? Now a murder or a rape - that's a different story! It's hard enough just informing the teachers of Franklin County of the STRS fiasco as the majority are just too busy ...and as far as answering to Petro....well, I'll let you ponder that one after you digest the "fundraiser" event! John
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