From Mary Ellen Angeletti, September 9, 2007
Subject: Your Stand Against HB 151 & Divestment
Kudos to you, Representative Szollosi, for voicing your opposition to HB 151, the divestment bill for the public pension funds. It took courage to stand against this bill proposed by Mr. Mandel, and I commend you for your view. I am still hopeful that this bill NEVER makes it out of committee to be considered for placement on the House agenda. As a STRS retiree, I am vehemently opposed to any money grabs on my pension money. You have given retired teachers some hope for the future by your example of courage, common sense, and intelligence to see what is best for Ohio and its public employees. I certainly hope that Ohio is fortunate to get more first term representatives like yourself into office. We need your kind of intelligent independent thinking in the Ohio Legislature. Thank you.
Mary Ellen Angeletti,
STRS retiree and member of CORE (Concerned Ohio Retired Educators)
Rep. Matt Szollosi...one Ohio Representative who jerked Josh's (Mandel) chain
If we need an ally in the divestment battle I think we can count on Ohio Rep. Matt Szollosi. 1.3 million votes can assure walking papers to any state politician who works against state employees and their families should House Speaker Husted decide to resurrect HB 151from committee and put it back on the agenda!
John [Curry] 9/9/07
Wall Street Journal [June 2007]—"Rallying their forces, the funds emailed “action alerts” to thousands of the state’s
1.3 million current and retired state employees, alleging that the bill could gut their retirement and health-care accounts and urging them to call their local representatives. “A delayed response may be devastating,” read one alert sent out in May by the Ohio State Teachers Retirement System.
An even louder outcry arose from Ohio’s industrial belt. The bill, which roped in companies with even small engagements with Iran, affected not only Honda, but DaimlerChrysler AG, Bridgestone Corp., Siemens and ThyssenKrupp AG, all of which have factories in Ohio. The pension funds estimated that the targeted companies employed more than 45,000 workers in the state.
One of the first critics to pull Mr. Mandel aside was Rep. Matt Szollosi, a freshman Democrat. His message: The bill would chill the investment climate in Ohio, a state already hard hit by the loss of manufacturing jobs. “I told him straight out that DaimlerChrysler has a new Jeep plant that straddles my district,” Mr. Szollosi recalls. “They’ve invested up to $2.5 billion in that plant… . The bill as introduced would have had a devastating impact on Ohio from an economic-development standpoint.” …
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