Dave Parshall's speech to STRS Board, August 14, 2008

Board Members, Mr. Nehf, and members of STRS:

I am David Parshall, a 32 year STRS retiree. I speak to you today as a retiree and as President of C.O.R.E. First, on behalf of C.O.R.E., I wish to welcome our new Executive Director, Mr. Nehf, to the STRS family. We hope to form a great working relationship with you, and to reinstate the periodic meetings between the Executive Director and C.O.R.E. In the past, these meetings with Dr. Asbury resolved a lot of issues and avoided misunderstandings.

While today is Mr. Nehf's first official board meeting, it also marks John Lazares' final roll call as a STRS board member. As sad as this occasion is for us, it is at the same time an opportunity for us to recognize all of the many achievements that John has had such a vital role in bringing about at STRS. The confidence of STRS members in their pension system has come a long way in the last several years. Persons who were never heard in the past found a voice, and vital improvements in the operations of their pension came to fruition. John, there are more people than you can ever fully realize who hold you in the highest possible esteem, and love you for caring so deeply about all of us. We will miss you. We hope that the new board will continue to work in an open manner in the best interest of all retirees and not just various political constituencies.

This brings me to an issue I need to address. There is a crisis building across the country regarding transparency in public pension systems. One of our members curled up one night with the July issue of Forbes magazine and found an article entitled "The Other Real Estate Crises" by Stephane Fitch. Due to the private equity investment downturn, there is a national epidemic of self-censorship with public pensions in 13 states. What is most disturbing is that in 11 of these states the operational staffs of these pension funds worked with their legislators to have legislation passed so that their pension funds would not have to publicly disclose losses from their equity investments. They felt the need to protect the various equity fund manipulators rather than to protect their own pension system and its members. The article also pointed out that in spite of the fact that many of the funds themselves no longer require such secrecy as trade secrets, the movement is moving on to other states. This kind of action by STRS would be a big step backwards in the progress made to date toward real accountability. C.O.R.E. will be monitoring the situation as this crisis widens. Our only purpose now is to help make the board aware of what is happening in other states. I am sure that Mr. Mitchell is on top of this situation, and we have confidence in his leadership.

Thanks for your attention.