Paul Boyer to Susan Zelman: Some good reasons to remove Puckett

From Paul Boyer, November 10, 2006
Subject: Retirement
Dear Dr. Zelman:

I have been one of the leaders in CORE, Concerned Ohio Retired Educators, since early in 2003 after Dr. Dennis Leone, Chillicothe Superintendent, issued his thirteen page discovery of the way the STRS State Pension Board Executive Director Herb Dyer and members of the board were spending OUR retirees' money on themselves. I have attended many monthly board meetings and gave speeches to the board outlining our displeasure with the way they were wasting OUR money. I chaired a special CORE/Damon committee that met monthly to discuss issues.

During all of that time, your representative on the board, Dr. Puckett, has done very little, if any, work to save our money from going down the drain. I agree with what another of our CORE members wrote in a recent email to another member as follows:

Her rep on the STRS Bd., Steve Puckett, has certainly not represented the best interests of Ohio's retired teachers. All that Mr. Puckett has done is to rubber stamp approval for anything and everything that the STRS executive staff requests without proper oversight of contracts (with or without your instructions). He is the only remaining member of the infamous STRS Board found guilty of ethics violations and consequently removed from the Board in disgrace. Yes, all retired teachers should let Governor Elect Strickland know of their displeasure with Zelman's STRS Bd. rep.

We are earnestly asking you to give a high priority to removing Mr. Puckett from the STRS Board and replacing him with someone who will study ORC 3307.15 and use it as the guiding principle for his/her service on the board.

We CORE members were successful in persuading the legislature to remove the Auditor and Attorney General from the state pension boards when they wrote SB 133, the reform state pension bill. Perhaps we should have gone a step further and included the State Education Superintendent in that move.

Further, our membership was instrumental in helping defeat Mr. Petro in his primary run for Governor and we believe we had a good part in defeating Mrs. Montgomery in the General Election. I have written her a letter congratulating her on her retirement inasmuch as she will complete her service as a state elected official at the end of the year because of the election.

Now, we have word that you wish to stay in Ohio because you want to retire here. May I remind you that there will be some new members on the State Board of Education and it behooves you to try to help straighten up the STRS Board's actions if you do not want them voting against your renewal. Leaving Dr. Puckett as your representative on the board well not help you. If you want to retire here with a good retirement, then that is another reason to get the board cleaned up.

I hope you will take this letter seriously and take some decisive actions.

Paul L. Boyer

Retired since 1985

Life member OEA/OEA-R,

NEA, ORTA, CORE

Proud to be named

“Core” of CORE