ORTA! ORTA! ORTA!

Dennis Leone to "Duke" Snider, April 18, 2010
Subject: ORTA, ORTA, ORTA!

(Click image to enlarge)

Duke --

I've love to attend the Brown County RTA meeting at 11:30 a.m. on June 24........but at that precise time, I will be on a plane to visit my elder daughter in Denver.

Since ORTA's Ann Hanning will be speaking at the meeting, I sure wish someone would ask her why -- during my 4 years on the board -- ORTA never spoke in support of one single thing I advanced in the best interests of retirees. Not one time.

Often I even would urge the STRS board members to slow down and make sure they understood how proposals might adversely affect retirees. Did ORTA ever stand up and say "Yeah, Leone is right." Never. Did ORTA stand with me (when I was completely alone, initially) to streamline the operating budget, to stop bonuses in years STRS lost money, to freeze salaries? Nope. In fact, I recall that three years ago, I published statements in an ORTA newsletter saying that I was upset over STRS staff and board members telling the world that STRS pensions were secure and nobody had anything to worry about.

Without even knowing what might happen with the Stock Market, I could tell that our number of active teachers and wage contributions (called "payroll growth") had dropped five or six consecutive years. The trend looked obviously bad in my eyes, but not to anyone else.

I publicly criticized Laura Ecklar and Michael Neff for publishing "all is fine" STRS newsletters. One month after I did it for the last time -- during a large planning work session -- STRS announced that we were in trouble absent big changes occurring. Did ORTA stand with me in questioning our financial stability? No sir.

In December of 2008, the Columbus Dispatch reported that I was the only board member who wanted to stop bonuses completely in years STRS lost money. My push to make a change initially failed miserably. When it finally passed (after STRS had lost $30 billion in assets), the vote was 6-3-1, with OEA board members still trying to stop it. Where was ORTA to help? Nowhere.

Finally, just before I left the board, I pushed for 2 more things, but couldn't quite get them (and WOULD have, I believe, if ORTA had helped). I wanted:

1. A board policy requiring Steve Mitchell to inform the board if severe economic conditions, or abnormal external events (like a terrorist attack), might require STRS to pull certain stocks from our passive portfolio......to avoid the embarrassment of Enron, World Com, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The board's passive portfolio philosophy PROHIBTS the staff to pull the plug on single passive stocks (which translates into the staff saying -- when certain stocks take a dive -- "it's not my fault, it's the board's policy"). It is plainly stupid and ORTA did nothing to help me get this changed. Month after month I brought it up (as John Lazares did on concerns with Fannie Mae), but got nowhere. Oh well, said ORTA.

2. The STRS Board thinks it is okay to raise the health insurance premiums of retirees, but it's not okay to do the same, proportionately, for STRS employees. While salaries were finally frozen, the bonus checks stopped (sort of), silly staff perks were dropped (like annual cash reimbursements for unused sick leave), and full-time rehired retirees were finally told they could not have STRS insurance, I got absolutely nowhere on the notion that when retirees have to pay more for insurance, so should the STRS staff.

No help from ORTA.......not ever, on anything.

Dennis Leone
Former STRS Board Member (2005-2009)