Patricia Miller's speech to STRS Board, June 18, 2009

Dear Board Members and Mr. Nehf,
We STRS retirees have behaved responsibly and worked diligently; are seeing our well earned retirement being dramatically eroded by the fiscal irresponsibility and the lack of oversight by many, including you at STRS. You continue to place (or should I say "dump") the devastating results onto the shoulders of the ones least able to bear the burden -- our retirees. It's much easier for you to OK the reduction of our COLAs, increase our insurance rates and reduce our options. That won't ruffle the feathers of anyone you will be seeing face-to-face. After all, retirees are scattered throughout the state and don't really know what is going on. They trust you.
At the very least, we should be seeing STRS trimming staaff, reducing salaries and eliminating bonuses. If it's too much of a burden for you to do what you have pledged to do and need to do, then step down and let qualified people who have our best interests at heart do the job. As Isaid before, STRS is supposed to be serving its retirees, not the other way around. But then again, you know that.