Famous Quotes: A Trip Down Memory Lane

Remember these?

Watch this column, as quotes are added from time to time.

"I will consider responding to your records request when and if I have time, and that's not likely to be soon" (Former STRS executive director Herb Dyer, [convicted on ethics charges] responding to Dennis Leone's letter in Dec., 2002)

"The Board decides what's fair and it's the Board members' money to spend as they see fit." (Herb Dyer, letter to retiree Joe Gebhardt)

"It's a drop in the bucket." (Former Board member Jack Chapman [convicted on ethics charges] re: the total cost of his meeting expenses, in comparison to the total STRS assets)

"We don't get paid as Board members, so we deserve these things." (Jack Chapman)

"This is unfair because they don't get paid as board members" (Former Board member Hazel Sidaway's lawyer, H. Ritchie Hollenbaugh, on her day of conviction on ethics charges)

"I think it is clearly overkill.....the system is unfair to people that make an innocent mistake." ~ Attorney H. Ritchey Hollenbaugh, who represented several ex-STRS Board members convicted of ethics charges

"His (Leone's) report is destructive........it contains misrepresentations" (Gary Allen, President of OEA, June 2003)

"_________________________" (ORTA, after Dennis Leone's investigative report came out in May, 2003) (You're right -- they had nothing to say.)

"We could have discovered what Dennis Leone found, but we've been busy doing other things for retirees." (ORTA Executive Director Dave Travis)

"The initials S.T.R.S. are not supposed to stand for Spending, Travel, Retreats and Sculptures." (Dennis Leone, addressing the STRS Board in August of 2003)

"They're like kids in a candy store" (State Representative Michelle Schneider, regarding the spending habits of former STRS Board members and staff members).

"Beware of malcontent retirees." (Former ORTA president and former STRS Board chair, Joe Endry [convicted on ethics charges], departing words in ORTA Quarterly)

"I was doing board business when I attended that Broadway show" (Hazel Sidaway/Joe Endry)

"What would Rome look like today if they hadn't supported the arts?" (Former STRS Board member [forced out by SB 133] Jim Petro, regarding the $869,000 spent on sculptures at STRS)

"I am not against bonus checks at all." (Former Board member [forced out by SB 133] Betty Montgomery, upon learning that some 500 STRS employees received annual bonus checks)

"I really should have been more vigilant." (Montgomery, at Senate hearings)

"Shut up!" (Former Board member & Chair Bob Brown, directed at Leone in public Board meeting, 2005)

"It is questionable whether Leone actually will be on the ballot because it is unclear whether he is working in a school district." (OEA's Gary Hollow, in NEOEA-R newsletter, after Leone filed his Board candidacy petitions in February of 2005)

"You're being intrusive." (Former appointed Board member Judith Fisher [who resigned in August, 2006], about Leone operating budget questions)

"You're micro-managing" (Fisher, about Leone vendor contract questions)

"I agree with Judith on this." (Former appointed Board member Geoffrey Meyers [who resigned 10/26/06], about Leone vendor contract questions, four months after Fisher left the board)

"He's childish, he needs parenting, and if he were a student in my class he'd be suspended from school." (Board chair Conni Ramser, about Leone, in the Canton Repository)

"We just disagree on whether he's a savior or a crackpot." (OEA's Tim Myers, regarding Leone)

"This is a waste of time." (Ex-Board member Geoff Meyers, about Leone question regarding Ferguson contract)

"Any Board involvement in vendor contracts impairs the staff's ability to negotiate" (New Board member Mark Meuser, October 2006)

"See, you don't have to go to Florida to find a good meeting; you can attend one right here in Columbus!" (ORSC President Aristotle Hutras at February, 2007 STRS Board retreat)

"I've never been to Lindey's in my life!" (STRS Board chairman Conni Ramser at a November, 2006 Board meeting, re: a dinner voucher with her name on it) [Her union friends seemed to regard it as a mild memory slip and she was sweetly forgiven; most assuredly, it would have been a different story altogether, from their viewpoint, had a certain other Board member or two made the same denial, then were later found to have received such a dinner with an STRS-purchased credit card.]

"Well, we can't put everything in the booklet!" ~ An STRS rep to a sick retiree calling about a drug that was denied, even though it was on the list of approved medication with prior authorization and listed in the 2006 STRS HC booklet as "approved."

"I have consulted our executive board and they agreed with me that there is no reason to publish an article that will be about 3 or 4 weeks old by the time it is in the hands of our members." ~ Tom Seamon, editor of the ORTA Quarterly, to Dennis Leone, after refusing to publish his March 2007 STRS Report (Keep this quote in mind each time you read your Quarterly.)

"Because we don't have to" ~ Response to Dennis Leone after he asked why the Board wasn't voting publicly, after a secret ballot was taken to appoint Conni Ramser to the STRS Board (to replace Jack Chapman) and Tai Hayden (to replace Michael Billirakis).

"We are looking at it." ~ Marc Dann (4/8/07) after being asked to examine the practice of secret balloting, with regard to its legality, during open Board meetings at Ohio STRS.

“Oh my God,” said state Rep. Michelle Schneider, R-Cincinnati, and sponsor of legislation to reform the state’s five pension systems.

“They just don’t get it. The nightmare continues.” ~ Canton Repository article (by Paul Kostyu), May 12, 2004: STRS workers to get $3.85M in bonuses

State Attorney General Marc Dann, addressing March 2007 STRS Board meeting; from the official minutes of the meeting: "Mr. Dann said he agreed [with Board member Dennis Leone] that it was a conflict of interest for the Attorney General to sit on the Board. Mr. Dann also said he will strongly exercise his independence and that he is only accountable to the people of the State of Ohio. He said he will offer his independent judgment as at first, but if necessary, he will take action against his own clients in order to make sure the law is followed. He said he understands STRS Ohio exists to serve its members, not serve itself and he will certainly be mindful of that going forward."

“You will NOT insult MY people in MY house!” ~ Patricia Frost-Brooks, when Dennis Leone was criticizing the voting practices of certain board members during an OEA-R representative meeting at OEA, where Dr. Leone was the invited speaker; December 29, 2007

".....any motions before the Board that would or could undermine trust and confidence between the Board, Executive Director and Staff, are not in the best interest of the system, and, in fact, may be unnecessary and counterproductive." ~ Patricia Frost-Brooks, December 13, 2007, in a speech before the STRS Retirement Board*

[* Note: Ms. Brooks did not articulate any specific motions to which she was referring.]

"Dennis is an attack-dog." ~ An OEA-R member, January 9, 2008

Flashback, 3 years ago: STRS workers to get nearly $4 million in bonuses

“Oh my God,” said state Rep. Michelle Schneider, R-Cincinnati, and sponsor of legislation to reform the state’s five pension systems. “They just don’t get it. The nightmare continues.”

STRS workers to get $3.85M in bonuses

Canton Repository, May 12, 2004
By PAUL E. KOSTYU
Copley Columbus Bureau chief

COLUMBUS — Employees of the State Teachers Retirement System will get bonuses worth $3.85 million from a program that was suspended in the aftermath of revelations about excessive spending last year.

Retirement System Executive Director Damon Asbury said late Tuesday night that he will recommend to the Retirement System board next week that payments be made to 371 investment and noninvestment employees for work done in the 2002-03 fiscal year.

Asbury said he felt the system had a legal responsibility to make the payments because employees participated in the program expecting to earn bonuses for meeting “stretch goals.”

Employees met their stretch goals, for example, by attending workshops, talking to parents and keeping spreadsheets of expenses, according to information first reported in July 2003 by Copley Ohio Newspapers.

Asbury made the decision based on an Ohio attorney general opinion issued late last year, but not made public. He said the report indicated that a valid bonus contract existed between the system and employees.

“Oh my God,” said state Rep. Michelle Schneider, R-Cincinnati, and sponsor of legislation to reform the state’s five pension systems. “They just don’t get it. The nightmare continues.”

Asbury said he intended to brief key lawmakers Tuesday, including Schneider, but couldn’t because of the Legislature’s busy calendar. But he said state Sen. Lynn R. Wachtmann, R-Napoleon, and another sponsor of reform legislation, knew about Asbury’s decision earlier this year. Wachtmann, who is also chairman of the Ohio Retirement Study Council, could not be reached Tuesday night. The council meets today.

“This is not a step in the right direction,” said Schneider, a member of the council. “It absolutely hurts the effort to restore faith and trust in the system.”

Thomas Curtis, a retired teacher from North Canton, called for Asbury’s resignation immediately. He said Asbury told retirees “there was no contract” with noninvestment employees and they would never get bonuses. “This is totally against what he told us. I am disgusted.”

Asbury said he had heard informally that employees planned to sue the system over the bonuses. He said he had hoped to have the issue settled in January, but “we didn’t want it to get in the way of the pension reform bill in the Legislature.”

John Lazares, a Warren County superintendent who was just elected to the board but will not take office until September, wondered if there was another motive. He beat incumbent board member and chairman Eugene Norris by less than 300 votes Saturday. He said the margin would have been even greater had this news come out sooner.

“I ran on the issue that we have to rebuild confidence and respect for the system,” he said. “I know this will devastate members. I don’t support it.”

Asbury said there is money in the system’s budget this year to pay the bonuses, but not in next year’s budget.

“We need to move forward,” he said. “This is a carry-over from our past. It’s unfortunate. This is one thing we have to deal with head-on. I understand the sentiment on both sides. It’s not a decision I took lightly. I agonized over it, but I feel it is the right decision in the best overall interest of the system.”

You can reach Copley Columbus Bureau Chief Paul E. Kostyu at (614) 222-8901 or e-mail: paul.kostyu@cantonrep.com