How can we ever trust another STRS Board election after what happened in 2013? Will we always have to guard against deceptive ballot language? You bet! Read on!

Dennis Leone tells us the story of the infamous STRS Board election of 2013

From Dennis Leone, STRS Board member 2005-2009

March 6, 2022

There were 4 people running for 2 retiree slots in 2013. The ballot deceived retirees, who intended to cast a single vote for me, into thinking that they needed to cast a second vote in order for their single vote for me to count. When retirees clicked that they were finished voting, the voting system informed retirees voting that they had a second vote they still needed to cast.  A single vote for me only was not accepted by the voting system UNTIL the voter rejected the second vote instructions.  

This positively helped the other 3 candidates and it made a difference in the final outcome. McGreevy and Stein were re-elected by a slim margin. I will always feel that I would have come in first or second had it not been for the screwed-up system in effect that year.  

I believe in subsequent years, the voting system was changed and became more clear about voters NOT needing to vote for more than one candidate. I also became aware that when I complained to the STRS Board about the 2013 election, the Board discussed the matter in executive session which was a flagrant violation of Ohio’s Sunshine Law. Public bodies often wrongly think they can discuss a matter in executive session if they feel it will become litigation. Wrong. A legal matter can be discussed privately in executive session ONLY AFTER A LAWSUIT HAS BEEN FILED, NOT BEFORE.  

I do not recall the name of the other retiree who ran in 2013 and finished 4^th.   After she learned what had happened in the voting system, she called me to say that she wished she had not run because her votes most certainly would have gone my way, and I would have won by a large margin (like I did in 2006).  Not wanting increased oversight on my part, the STRS Board, ORTA, and OEA were very happy that I was not elected in 2013.  

OEA, in particular, campaigned hard against me, communicating strongly with recent retirees who did not have the benefit of knowing how the Board wasted money in past years.  OEA also did not want active teachers to know that their own OEA leaders knew what was happening at STRS and that they were spending money in the very same wasteful way that Board members and STRS staff members did.

ORTA officers later apologized for their efforts against me and for their can’t-we-all-just-get-along STRS-cheerleading posture. ORTA’s leadership was in la-la land for many years about STRS.  Fortunately, that is not the case now with the current ORTA executive director. End of story. Attached is a one-page summary of what I published in 2005 about prior STRS misdeeds [see below]. This report was scorned by the STRS Board, the STRS Staff, OEA, and ORTA. Times change………I guess.

Dennis Leone