John Damschroder: Retired teachers group calling on 'The Equalizer'
John Damschroder, Columnist
Fremont News Messenger
October 27, 2020
The Ohio Retired Teachers Association (ORTA) is turning to an equalizer in their effort to restore a cost of living adjustment (COLA) to pensions from the Ohio State Teachers Retirement System.
As TV and film buffs will recall "The Equalizer" was a one-man army defending victimized underdogs against more powerful foes.
ORTA’s equalizer is a lawyer, accountant, whistleblower, columnist and author, Edward Siedle. ORTA leadership has created a bank account to take contributions from members and other interested parties to fund a forensic audit, or search for waste, fraud and abuse, conducted by Ted Siedle and a team of expert peers he intends to recruit to the cause of cleaning up Ohio pensions. 
Ohio STRS has long taken offense at the assertion all is not well with the pension fund. The former executive director wrote this newspaper twice to dispute conclusions reached in my column. But since the COLA cuts enacted in 2017, despite 2013 reforms that required teachers to pay more, work longer and collect smaller pensions, STRS is less than convincing.
High cost, high risk, low return, zero visibility investing plagues all of Ohio’s public pensions. These investments have been terrible for the pensions but richly rewarding for the people who sell them, such as former Gov. John Kasich did after leaving Congress. They were also a key source of funds for Kasich’s presidential campaign, harvested despite laws against pay-to-play in the public pension funds.
One of the Wall Street giants fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission for illegal contributions to Kasich was the STRS fund manager Apollo Group. Pennsylvania’s largest pension is now shunning Apollo because of founder Leon Black’s multi-million dollar dealings with sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein, after his conviction on the sex crimes that made him infamous. While powerful Pennsylvania state Treasurer Joe Torsella attacks high fee pension investments with passion, Ohio pension money in Apollo helped the company acquire Ohio founded Cox Media Group.
In Rhode Island and North Carolina, crowd funded forensic audits put pressure on state pension managers to cut the cash flow to high cost alternative investments. Dr. Robin Rayfield, executive director of ORTA, knows simply stopping the bleeding in the STRS pension is a worthy outcome for the effort he’s leading.
But the terrain is tougher in Ohio. Gov. Mike DeWine’s initial reaction to the bribery scandal to bail out Davis Besse and Perry nuclear power plants was, basically, that the ends justify the means. A day later, realizing he had endorsed Mafia methods, DeWine changed his stance to repeal and replace the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charged bill, called by federal law enforcement the largest scandal in Ohio history. We’re still waiting. Meanwhile candidates for state office tell me they mopped floors in McDonald's and are moms and dads but don’t mention outrage at scandal or plans to fight systemic corruption.
In the presidential campaign, Joe Biden is reported to be considering Kasich for a cabinet position. Kasich claims he has no interest, and the guy who put Matt “I’m so taken care of” Borges into office as chairman of the Ohio Republican Party while creating and presiding over a state government culture where RICO could flourish, would certainly draw some tough questions in confirmation hearings.
The Biden connection will help Kasich attract clients for his new business, cashing in on his state office just as he did with Lehman Brothers to monetize his congressional career. Facilitating investments from pension funded companies such as Apollo Group is a highly valued service Kasich’s multi-billion dollar alternative investment buddies make possible.
Ohio public pension beneficiaries can’t count on the auditor, attorney general, treasurer or governor to protect against this sort of plunder. Nor can they trust the Ohio Retirement Study Council to perform its most basic statutory duties. Bringing in an equalizer like Ted Siedle, who can find and foil pension pirates, may be the smartest investment Ohio public employees ever have the chance to make.
John Damschroder, a Fremont native who worked in Gov. George Voinovich’s administration, writes about business and economic development in Ohio.
posted by Kathie Bracy at 7:52 PM
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