John Curry: You forgot to tell them something, Representative Wachtmann

From John Curry, January 5, 2010

Representative Wachtmann,

I have attached an article from the Sidney Daily News which was featured on page 4A. In the article entitled, "Taxpayers asked to cover rising pension costs," you state, "The taxpayers of Ohio who are footing the bill for all of this in the end need to realize how generous the public-pension systems - all of them - are compared to private-sector retirement plans." You also go on to state, "Most of our private-sector employers would go bankrupt if they had to pay the kind of money into employee retirements that our public-sector employers do."

Mr. Wachtmann, by your statements it is very apparent that you are no friend of public educators, policemen, firemen, municipal employees, school employees, state employees, county employees, city employees, village and township employees all across this great state. They have chosen their professions, in part, because of the retirement systems that they are retired in or will retire in because of the defined benefits retirement that they were offered at the time they became employed. They were looking out for their future then and they are looking out for their futures now.

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Many of them chose their jobs at a time when the private sector paid a more handsome salary and had better benefits. They gave up both monetary remunerations and benefits to work at their governmental jobs when the economy was much better than it is now. They also, Mr. Wachtmann, will (if eligible) see a severely reduced Social Security retirement check should they have earned enough quarters in Social Security, due to the Government Pension Offset provision (law) that penalizes them because they are a resident of a state that created state employee pensions.

Mr. Wachtmann, there is one thing that somehow the Sidney Daily News didn't seem to quote you on and that is that you are a governmental employee and a professional politician who has held elected office in this state for approximately 20 years now. You, Mr. Wachtmann, forgot to tell the readers that you also will be eligible for the same OPERS state retirement system benefits that you speak unkindly of in the attached article.

Mr. Wachtmann, politicians who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones at public employees...somehow, they will notice this and will tend to forget you the next time they see your name on a ballot....they should and so should their friends and families. Mr. Wachtmann, we are now looking at millions of Ohioans who see that you spoke one thing out of one side of your mouth and (down the road) will extend your hand out to receive the very benefits that you criticize. Instead of trying to solve the funding problems of the respective public retirement systems, you, Mr. Wachtmann, are trying to destroy them.

John Curry
Wapakoneta

P.S. Below is a brief outline of your professional political history as taken from the Ohio House of Representatives website. You only have a few more years to go before you can be an OPERS benefits recipient, don't you? Will you give your pension back to the State of Ohio because, as you say, "most of our private-sector employers would go bankrupt if they had to pay the kind of money into employee retirements that our public-sector employers do?"

"State Representative Lynn Wachtmann is currently serving his second term in the Ohio House of Representatives. He previously served as a state representative from 1985 to 1998 and as a state senator from 1999 to 2006. He represents the 75^th House District, which encompasses Henry, Paulding, Putnam and Van Wert counties as well as Adams Township in Defiance County."