Wade Steen taking STRS Board and the governor to court
Ousted Ohio teachers’ pension fund board member claims wrongful removal in lawsuit
by: Colleen Marshall, Mark Feuerborn
Posted: Jun 8, 2023
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A member kicked out from overseeing Ohio’s teacher retirement system is now taking his former pension board and the governor to court.
Investment expert Wade Steen filed a lawsuit in the Tenth District Court of Appeals naming the other members of the State Teachers Retirement Board as well as Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine as defendants. The complaint document drafted by Steen’s attorney accused them of one charge of usurpation of office, and disputes claims that he wasn’t regularly attending board meetings, resulting in DeWine replacing him with G. Brent Bishop.
Steen was vocal in calling for changes to STRS — earning support from a teacher’s watchdog group — after the system controversially paid out $10 million in investment staff bonuses in a fiscal year ending in June 2022. In the same period, its pension fund for teachers lost over $5 billion. More recently in April, STRS proposed setting aside another $11.1 million for performance-based bonuses for the staff in 2024 — a 30.6% increase from the prior year’s incentives.
“I do know that I’ve asked a lot of questions about benchmarks, about performance, about our investments and alternatives,” Steen previously told NBC4. “Our investments in hedge funds, the amount of fees we pay, the performance we get, have all raised questions.”
On his removal from office, the lawsuit document said DeWine overstepped his authority as governor, and Steen was denied due process. He has previously denied the idea that his attendance would be an issue with the board.
See Colleen Marshall's news segment here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niulq3UemZ4
posted by Kathie Bracy at 11:47 PM
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