Suzanne Laird to STRS Board, March 16, 2023: Cut the blarney; cut the bonuses

Suzanne Laird's speech to the STRS Board, March 16, 2023

Good morning, Members of MY Board,

It’s almost St. Patrick’s Day, and I wonder how many educators in Ohio feel lucky?

Current teachers must work longer for less and retirees still have no permanent COLA.

Gee, how lucky can we get?

I do feel lucky to have a few Board members who actually attempt to challenge the shenanigans around  here and I am desperately hoping our newly appointed Board member is astute at recognizing how the STRS Social Media Elf may have kissed the Blarney Stone waaaay too many times.

I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky in that, unlike the Panda Power debacle, which was hidden from us for years, last month, we quickly uncovered the the fact that our investment leprechauns have been dabbling in cryptocurrencies, and this week, those same elves lost a huge pot o’gold in the Silicon Valley Bank collapse!

Ah, but Callan’s connivers will try to convince us there is “very little risk” in our portfolio.

The Social Media Elf will magically spin these losses into marshmallows and rainbows!

Don’t you dare fall for it! It’s mid-March, but this madness must end now.

Two huge losses (that we know of) in the first quarter of 2023?!

If you allow even one bonus this year, or one penny in raises, you will be incentivizing this bad behavior. Auditor Faber got it right: transparency must be increased and those golden bonuses scrutinized. You now have the evidence that the investment staff is not as skilled as they claim, and are relying on luck.

The teachers of Ohio aren’t asking for magic, we’re asking for exactly what we were contractually promised. We want to be the envy of the other pension systems, proud and lucky to be treated with the respect we deserve.

Cut the blarney, cut the bonuses.