The Vindy says the people have the right to know...
From John Curry, September 16, 2010
State’s public pension system must undergo public scrutiny
Vindy.com, September 16, 2010
It’s just a matter of time (it had not occurred as this editorial was written) before Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray comes to the conclusion that records (heavily redacted, no less) of public pensions are not sacrosanct.
Democrat Cordray’s challenger in the November general election, former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, a Republican, has certainly changed his tune. On Monday, DeWine called on the attorney general to end his standoff with the Ohio News Organization and advise the pension systems to make public non-personal information about their funds.
Several weeks ago, the Republican challenger refused to discuss the issue with the Cleveland Plain Dealer. This after the Democratic incumbent had advised the state pension funds not to provide records to Ohio’s newspapers, the Plain Dealer reported.
All five of the state’s public employee pension funds (note the word public) have denied a request from ONO, a collaboration of the state’s largest newspapers, including The Vindicator, to provide details about service time, pay and benefits for each of their 400,000 recipients.
The newspapers have gone so far as to agree to the names of the pension recipients being excluded from the records. That strikes us as being overly accommodating. After all, billions of tax dollars are funneled into the public pension plans.
But the newspapers, hoping to remove the statutory restrictions on the information, agreed to the deletion of the names. Even so, lawyers for the five funds said the restrictions remained, the Plain Dealer reported. It is revealing that two of the five funds are seeking more money from the taxpayers.
Ohioans now pay more than $4 billion a year toward the benefits for the 400,000 recipients.
On Jan. 3, the Ohio News Organization reported the results of a statewide survey of the state’s pension funds in several news stories. That reporting was followed by a package of stories about the widely used “retire, rehire” provision in the law that has enabled thousands of public employees to work in public positions and collect pensions at the same time.
That is why Attorney General Cordray’s refusal to support an opening up of the books is so puzzling. The people who pay the tab have a right to as much information as possible.
Even without the names, the details that are gleaned by the newspapers will answer questions such as, how much did the worker contribute towards his or her pension and how much did the taxpayers shell out? Or, how many years did a public employee work before being able to drawing a pension?
There are many more questions a review of the pension plans’ books would answer — even without the names of the recipients.
More money
It is instructive that two of the five pension funds are expecting the taxpayers to put up $325 million more to cover anticipated shortfalls.
With Gov. Ted Strickland and his Republican challenger, former Congressman John Kasich, and now DeWine supporting disclosure of non-personal information, the state’s top lawyer should get on board.
“This issue is not about politics, it’s about transparency,” DeWine said.
If we, the taxpayers, are expected to support a lucrative state public pension system, then we have a right to know how our money is being spent.
posted by Kathie Bracy at 5:57 AM
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