MOSERS watchers...you "ain't" seen nothin' yet! Let's go fishin'!

From John Curry, April 16, 2009

Today's article in the News-Leader.com (Springfield, MO) features some questionable retirement system travel. The Show Me folks are just now investigating one of their retirement systems, MOSERS (Missouri State Employees Retirement System), re. bonuses and have happened upon the discovery of another misspending and entitlement practice - globetrotting. It's kind of like opening up a can of worms at the first tug of the pull-tab on the lid above. Following the "amateur-globetrotting" on their dime article below is an example of "professional globetrotting" accomplished on the Ohio public's dime several years ago...... 2002 to be exact. Will the fishing be as good this year for the Missourians as it was for the Buckeyes in the past? Let's hope they catch every fish in the pond! However, $2,688 (even at today's prices) was just a "drop in the worm bucket" compared to the cost of ours, wasn't it?

John

Smith recalled asking Jetton, "Now that you've gone to London, are you coming to the meetings?"

News-Leader.com

April 16, 2009

State pension plan paid for Jetton trip

European visit made, but meetings missed.
The Associated Press

Columbia -- The former speaker of the Missouri House appointed himself to a state pension board and attended few meetings, but traveled with the agency last year to London.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reported Wednesday that the Missouri State Employees' Retirement System, called MOSERS, paid $2,688 for then-House Speaker Rod Jetton to take a six-day trip to London in July 2008.

Board members made the trip to talk with investment company officials about what is being done with the retirement system's funds. Some of the investment firms are headquartered there.

As speaker, Marble Hill Republican Jetton appointed himself to the board in September 2007. He left the House at the end of 2008, barred by term limits from seeking re-election.

Agency officials say Jetton missed seven meetings but attended a two-day board conference, the London trip and one other meeting.

"I felt it was unfortunate that he chose to go to one event and that happened to be in London," said Todd Smith, Gov. Matt Blunt's appointee on the board.

Smith recalled asking Jetton, "Now that you've gone to London, are you coming to the meetings?"

Jetton did not respond to the newspaper's requests for comment through two telephone messages and a visit to his office in Jefferson City.

In an e-mail to the Tribune, Jetton said that he is proud to have served on the board.

"During my time of service I tried to educate myself on the financial investments MOSERS' makes with our retirement funds. Since MOSERS' is backed by the Missouri taxpayer it is important that a close eye be kept on all investments," he wrote.

Sen. Jason Crowell, a client of Jetton's political consulting firm and a current member of the MOSERS board, said the meeting was an important function.

"It's like we are kicking the tires before we buy a car," he said.

Now, MOSERS stakeholders, here's some Professional globetrotting accomplished by some former Ohio STRS Board members back in 2002 ...fasten your seat belts! I have highlighted those former Ohio STRS board members who were OEA endorsed "teacher members" of the STRS Board during "our" travel junkets.

John

STRS paid $70,418 for trips in 2002

Canton Repository, August 9, 2003
By PAUL E. KOSTYU
Copley Columbus Bureau chief

COLUMBUS — The State Teachers Retirement System board created an online form to evaluate the conferences its members attend.

The electronic form was created because a paper one wasn’t being used, said Laura Ecklar, a spokeswoman for STRS.

But few board members use the electronic version, either, and those who do almost always say the seminars are “excellent.”

Critics of the pension fund say out-of-state travel by board members is indicative of STRS’s excessive spending habits.

In 2002, the first year evaluations were filed, nine current and former board members made a total of 49 trips to conferences, costing STRS $70,418. They filed 13 evaluations.

The top traveler that year was Jack Chapman of Reynoldsburg, who spent $14,684 on 12 trips. He was followed closely by vice chairman Eugene Norris of Columbus, who spent $14,573 on seven trips. Norris’ per trip cost, however, was higher at $2,044. Chapman filed seven evaluations, the most by any board member. Norris didn’t file any evaluations.

In June 2001, the board’s Committee on Board Orientation and Development asked the STRS staff to create a mechanism so members could file reports of their trips online. The evaluations were intended to help current and future board members decide whether it was worthwhile — in terms of education and cost — to attend similar seminars sponsored by the same organizations.

Ecklar, director of Communication Services, said there was no cost involved. Her office developed the wording and appearance of the form, while the fund’s Information Technology Services programmed it for the internal Intranet. She said several months were required to develop and test a program. The form became available in January 2002.

Ecklar called the form a success because board members are using it.

Hazel Sidaway of Plain Township, a former board member and now-retired Canton teacher, chaired the committee that initiated the electronic form. In the committee’s last report that was presented at the board’s June meeting, seven meetings were recommended “as beneficial.”

Three of those seven meetings were sponsored by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. Yet, two evaluations comment on the organization’s seminars. The annual meeting of the National Council on Teacher Retirement is recommended based on two evaluations, one that said it was “good” and the other said it was “excellent.” The recommendation of the annual meeting of the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems is based on one evaluation.

Chapman was the first to use the electronic form in February 2002 and, is the most frequent user of the program. According to STRS documents, Chapman is the only board member to file evaluations in 2003.

Chairwoman Deborah Scott, who at the June board meeting urged members to file evaluations, submitted one from the six trips she took.

None of the seminars were panned. In fact, 10 of the 13 evaluations said the meetings were excellent and others were said to be good, but still were recommended for other board members to attend.

Joseph Endry rated a convention in Anchorage, Alaska, as excellent “because of very current information about retirement system concerns.”

Chapman recommended the same meeting “based solely on the opportunity this convention provides for trustees to network with peers.” One of the sessions he attended discussed “the loss of faith in corporate America.”

In 2002, State Teachers Retirement System board members made 49 trips to conferences for which they were urged to file voluntary evaluations.

• Michael Billirakis spent $5,932 on four trips, filed no reports.

• Jack Chapman spent $14,684 on 12 trips, filed seven reports.

• Joe Endry spent $9,030 on six trips, filed two reports.

• Gloria Gaylord spent $3,803 on four trips, filed no reports.

• Paul Marshall spent $1,224 on one trip, filed no report.

• Rick Moore spent $2,735 on three trips, filed no reports.

• Eugene Norris spent $14,308 on seven trips, filed no reports.

• Deborah Scott spent $6,167 on six trips, filed one report.

• Hazel Sidaway spent $12,535 on seven trips, filed three reports.