Dave Parshall: Rebuttal to OEA's slanderous comments about CORE

May 15, 2008
[The remarks to which Dave responds appeared in campaign material put out by OEA at the time of the 2008 STRS Board election which ended May 5. At least one school district was given the material to distribute to teachers; perhaps all were.]

1. "...[CORE], a group of retirees who continually attack OEA."

Sometimes the truth seems to be an attack. CORE will respond when we feel that OEA is not acting in the best interest of both active and retired teachers.

2. "...in fact CORE pushes views that too often run contrary to the interest of active teachers, such as eliminating the 35-year retirement benefit."

The real fact is that CORE has never suggested that the 35-year benefit be repealed. What is true is that this needs to be further studied because it was based on actuarial assumptions that have been proven to be untrue. It is also true that while lobbying for HB 315, CORE found that a number of the members of the House brought it up and referred to it as "enhanced benefits," stating or implying that they could not sell HB 315 to their constituents who will never have such lavish pensions. We now have a two tier retirement system with those who have very good pensions while 36,000 retirees with 30 years or more of service earn $30,000 or less and many earn $20,000 or less. Even knowing all this, CORE has not called for the repeal of the 35-year enhancement. We are the only ones speaking for those who have no voice.

3. "Some in CORE claim that electing an OEA member would give OEA control of the STRS Board."

This also is not true. CORE knows full well this current election would not give OEA control of the Board. But we also know that this is the long term goal of OEA. It was in the past.

4. "More importantly, Board members serve as individuals and have a fiduciary responsibility to represent all members of the system, not just one organization."

It is great to hear OEA state this. If they had only followed this in the past, there would have been no need for Dennis Leone's landmark report exposing the many problems at STRS by an OEA-dominated rubber stamp board. If you don't know or learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it. CORE hopes to prevent this. The sad reality is there should be no need for CORE. OEA and ORTA let us all down in the past. We hope they have learned from this because CORE sure has.

5. "CORE's attacks on OEA are viscous [sic; 'vicious' intended?], unfounded and irrational. They seem to blame every problem -- from the rising cost of health care (a national crisis) to downturn in the economy -- on the union."

Once again the truth can seem like attacks when you don't want to hear it. Many of our CORE members helped build OEA across the state in the 60s and 70s and beyond. We fought the hard battles of representation and unification with NEA and were some of the first negotiators trained by OEA. We preceded even the Uni-Serv Unit movement. Many of us served as presidents and officers of our locals for years. We were just shocked at what we discovered about OEA and the problems we found at STRS after retirement and the lies we were told. Have you forgotten Herb Dyer? Actives, wake up! All educators, actives and retirees, need to stand together.

About the current health care crisis, OEA has never answered the question about why they opposed the legislation that the legislature porposed to fix the STRS healthcarre problem back in 1992. They chose to push it off to the future. Why? Now look at the mess we are facing. STRS retirees don't have time to wait for national single payer plan. This could take ten years, even if we can change Washington in '08. Finally, many of our members are still life members of OEA and ORTA. We support many of the causes that OEA fights for Ohio educators. We would love to get back to our "golden years" and tell you that everything is fine, but sadly, at this point we can't. Many of us are too busy cutting pills to save money.
Dave Parshall, President
Concerned Ohio Retired Educators (CORE)