Recent court documents you need to read to get the true picture of the gross injustice inflicted on two leading STRS board members; namely former board member Wade Steen and current board chairman, Dr. Rudy Fichtenbaum; they have been our strongest advocates

ORTA Staff

February 7, 2025

From the ORTA Blog:

Wade Steen: Recent court documents

Recent court documents in

•  State of Ohio v. Wade Steen and Dr. Rudy Fichtenbaum (CASE NO. 24CV003862)
•  Wade Steen v. G. Brent Bishop, et al (CASE NO. 23AP000351)
•  State of Ohio v. Dr. Rudy Fichtenbaum (CASE NO. 24 CV 003862)

Link to the documents on the ORTA website; they may be downloaded and viewed anytime: 

https://www.orta.org/post/wade-steen-recent-court-documents

~     ~     ~     ~     ~

STRS Ohio Board member Rudy Fichtenbaum, and former Board member Wade Steen, are incurring legal fees, defending themselves against the lawsuit brought against them by A.G. Dave Yost. ORTA will use donations from the Pension Defense Fund to help them, if needed, pay their legal expenses. They have volunteered their time to support Ohio's teachers. Now it's time for us to show our support for them! Make a donation today to the ORTA Pension Defense Fund

Remember the day?

That memorable STRS board meeting (or was it a circus?) April 18, 2024

That was the day Wade Steen won his year-long lawsuit against Governor DeWine, who had suddenly and illegally pulled him from his position on the STRS board the previous year. On April 18, 2024, Wade came straight from the court house to STRS, followed by his attorney, Norman Abood, waving his court papers proving he had just been legally reinstated to his seat on the STRS board. The board was meeting in executive session when Wade entered and presented his papers to the board chair, Dale Price, announcing his reinstatement, effective immediately. 

I was privileged to be selected by Wade to be sworn in at the public meeting shortly afterwards that day. Much confusion followed, as the board chair, who attempted to prevent the swearing-in ceremony, was not prepared for such a turn of events, and walked out, not even formally closing the meeting. That in itself caused quite a bit of chaos, especially since there were important matters on the agenda that had not been addressed. There were, however, many very happy active and retired teachers that day. 

Since Wade's four-year term officially ended September 27, 2024, he was not with us very long, but we are hoping that will not be the last we see of him. Wade Steen and Rudy Fichtenbaum have been two of the strongest board members ever (Rudy is still with us as board chairman). That was until the attorney general, Dave Yost, a friend of the governor's, also stepped in quickly, following the governor's shenanigans, and filed a frivolous lawsuit against both men. That's another story for another part of this blog. Here's a photo of yours truly, Kathie Bracy, conducting the swearing-in ceremony for Wade Steen: