Kathie Bracy: My take on the retreat

Kathie Bracy to John Curry, February 2, 2007
Subject: My take on the retreat

John --

By now you've seen Mary Ellen's report on Day One of this week's Board retreat. (I just got home; I see she's sent a report now on Day Two, which I haven't opened yet.) I wish you could have been there -- you would have been so proud of Dennis. With the new people on board (Johnson, Brooks & Hayden), he is generating some strong support from people who have their eyes wide open, who have a LOT of COMMON SENSE, and, in the case of Johnson & Brooks, who have "been there," as far as background and experience go, and have a very good sense of how things are SUPPOSED to be done.

These are the kinds of people I meet every spring when I attend the annual OFIC (Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges) Evening of Excellence -- college presidents and CEOs from all over the state. I come away from those events stunned by the contrast between the kind of board they have and the kind we have, wondering why we can't have at least a FEW people like that on the STRS board!! Having two superintendents with darned good minds was a start; having people the caliber of Johnson and Brooks is a gift from heaven; and Tai, with her quick perception, common sense and willingness to speak up in opposition to the policy of speakers being held to three minutes if there are only a few signed up, and saying she didn't like what happened at the last Board meeting -- John, we're FINALLY getting a Board that has BRAINS and COMMON SENSE!!!!!

This is what we should have had from the very beginning. I worry about the others (Ramser, Meuser, Cervantes and Chapman). They may mean well and their hearts may be in the right place, but, John, they just don't get it. They were trained to be teachers; no more, no less. I have no doubt they all are good ones (use past tense in Chapman's case, since he's retired). At least with Hayden, she LISTENS and uses good judgement. What's the answer? I think there needs to be a crash course for teacher members of the Board, with some kind of continuing education, even if nothing more that sitting in on other board meetings where there are no educators, just to see how things SHOULD be run. They may have a lot of expertise in the classroom, but that's no background for managing millions of dollars of retirees' funds. The contrast between the "teacher members" (the ones I mentioned above) and the Leone-Lazares-Brooks-Johnson-Hayden contingent is glaring. Background and mindset -- that's what it boils down to. It needs to change.

As for Puckett -- well, if he has any brains and know-how on how to be an effective board member, he has yet to show it. Even on his best behavior, he is totally inept!! He talks once in a while, but has yet to contribute anything of value -- why do we have to put up with that? Here again, Zelman is an educator -- maybe he's the best she has to offer, which certainly doesn't speak well for her!! I think we need to start pressuring her some more to find somebody else. Puckett doesn't cut it.

Something else that shows Craig Brooks is on the right track. That silly IFS report suggested that the Board should consider re-instituting the bonuses for non-investment staff!!! Brooks, perhaps not knowing the full history, said he did not object to some employees getting a 6% base raise, and others getting 0%, if it balanced out to not more than 3%. He may be unaware what the word "bonus" has meant at STRS, historically. Dennis told him he really appreciated his response because it's exactly the way he feels. An employee getting a higher base raise for merit purposes is a whole different story from those getting a separate bonus merely for reporting to work.

I think Dennis was pretty happy when he could see several times that both Johnson and Brooks were supporting where he was coming from on his twenty or so travel policy recommendations, the three minute rule, and contingency planning. Such a refreshing change!! Brooks is a very smart man, a very nice man, and takes his job VERY seriously on that Board. Real class; exactly what we NEED. By the way, Damon has even agreed to put the Board policy changes on travel in effect for staff -- such as requiring itemized meal receipts, which is the ONLY way one can prove if alcohol really was or was not purchased.

That Aristotle Hutras was something. I don't think he prepared his remarks at all; he seemed to be speaking off the cuff and making jokes. I think he spends a lot of time at the Statehouse -- must be part of his job with the ORSC. He shared a little history -- I guess STRS came into being even before Social Security (I looked it up -- STRS was created in 1919 by the state legislature; Social Security was started in 1935). Anyway, he was saying how wonderful this was, not expecting Dennis to ask him given his understanding, if HE would step up and speak with both Wachtmann and Schneider about the potential evil of Blasdel's HB 700 in relation to the very existence of our pension system; also Dennis' question about why STRS should pay ORSC a set amount if STRS has a budgetary downturn as we did in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Dennis' point was that if STRS has less, ORSC should get less. Naturally, Hutras wasn't crazy about that point of view; after all it's HIS salary.

Remember when Conni Ramser denied to Dennis in Board meeting last month that she had ever been to Lindey's? Well, Gary Hollow asked Dennis yesterday if he had found a copy of the receipt proving otherwise, so Dennis produced it. It was signed by Debbie Scott on 12/10/04 and had Ramser's name on it as joining her. I didn't see it, but I understand it was itemized, showing no alcohol purchases; nevertheless, Ramser was indeed there. What's with her? You don't forget a place like Lindey's! I wonder how Gary H. will handle this. I bet he'll just say she simply forgot. Uh, yeah, right.

Anyway, Hutras did point out one thing. When he gushed about the big conference the pension systems had on Monday and Tuesday of this week (six STRS Board members were there -- Ramser, Hayden, Cervantes, Meuser, Chapman, and Brooks), he said in response to the attending Board members who were saying how much they appreciated the information at the conference, "See, you don't have to go to Florida to find a good meeting; you can attend one right here in Columbus!" -- something Dennis has been pounding away at for MONTHS (actually, four years)!! So GOOD to have SOMEBODY ELSE saying it!! Which reminds me -- we have Tom Johnson to thank for convincing the staff of the notion of having one day Board meetings instead of two. I totally agree. After all, this is not a social club, and these businessmen are taking time out from their jobs to be there (besides not being compensated for it). If they just pare down their agenda, omit all the self-serving garbage, prepare everyone in advance, then they can go right down the list, boom, boom, boom, and get the job done. As it is, they waste much too much time. If they can't cover their agenda in one day, then something's wrong. Heck, they could probably do a lot of it in HALF a day if they had to.

Dennis met with some resistance yesterday when the subject came up of a contingency plan in the event of a possible catastrophe. I was really proud of him for standing his ground and not backing down on that one. When he said something about if we do have a catastrophe in the future, he didn't want to have to say "I wish we had done such-and-such back then." I could just see the wheels turning in the heads of the "teacher members." He was finally getting through to them. A contingency plan won't be easy to put together, and it will come at a price. I suspect the staff doesn't want to touch it.

All in all, I was really proud of the leadership coming from Dennis' corner (I was happy to see Johnson & Brooks flanking him, though I'd have moved Puckett's chair someplace else; maybe the next floor). If the others asked even half the intelligent questions and contributed even half of what these guys do, the synergy on that Board would be mind-boggling. We could be very proud of that whole group!! Time will tell; we just need to continue to push to get the right people on the board and we won't have to worry about all the petty stuff that's kept them so dysfunctional in recent years. Heck, we might some day have a system we can actually be PROUD of again.

We all owe Dennis and John a HUGE debt of gratitude. They've been pounding away against incredible resistance for a long time. The tide is FINALLY turning. We don't DARE abandon them, though; there is still MUCH to be done. We must continue to be vigilant and supportive. We dare not go away, automatically assuming everything's going to be OK. That's what got this pension system into trouble in the first place -- WE weren't minding the shop!!!

Kate