Ohio seems to be a typical, Mid-West state. Up to a decade ago, politically Ohio was a \u201cswing state\u201d, but with the advent of Donald Trump, the state has made a hard political \u201cright\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Still, even in the 2024 Presidential elections, 44% of the state voted Democratic.\u00a0\u00a0But with \u201cmalice aforethought\u201d, the Republican Party here in Ohio has designed a gerrymandered legislature, so biased that Democrats are represented by less than 35% of the legislators.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They\u2019ve done it through complete disregard for two different State Constitutional Amendments to end gerrymandering and several rulings of the State Supreme Court.\u00a0\u00a0The Republican Party of Ohio today is the party of \u201chow much power, and how much money\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The $60 million bribe that put the former Republican state Speaker of the House and the Party State Chairman in Federal prison is only the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You don\u2019t have to be a Democrat to see what\u2019s going on.\u00a0\u00a0Republican candidates know that they won\u2019t face a contest in the \u201cgeneral election\u201d due to the skewed voting districts.\u00a0\u00a0So they only worry about the highly biased and divided primary elections in their own Party.\u00a0\u00a0And since it\u2019s the most partisan and extreme voters that show up in the primaries, the race is to cater to their right-wing views.\u00a0\u00a0We get what we \u201cask for\u201d in Ohio \u2013 an extremist legislature, beholden to the money that gets them re-elected time after time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s a \u201cgranular\u201d look at the impact of money on government in this state, one that cuts close to home for me.\u00a0\u00a0Teachers in Ohio, like most of the nation, are paid less than others with similar educational backgrounds.\u00a0 They love to teach and they love the impact they have on kids.\u00a0\u00a0But teachers also had a \u201cspecial benefit\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0While annual earnings weren\u2019t particularly high, teachers who made it through thirty or more years in the classroom got a \u201cpremiere retirement\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Up until 2011, those teachers could retire at 35 years, and get close to 90% of their annual income. They also were guaranteed low cost health insurance, and a 3% cost of living allowance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You could teach for a career, and retire with dignity.\u00a0\u00a0That was the state\u2019s promise.\u00a0\u00a0But in 2012, the legislature broke the deal.\u00a0\u00a0They gave up their authority to set rates, and turned absolute control over to the State Teacher Retirement Board.\u00a0\u00a0Essentially, the legislature \u201cwashed their hands\u201d of the matter.\u00a0\u00a0Almost immediately the Board, partially elected by active and retired teachers, but including appointed board members by the legislature, the governor, and the state department of education, acted. They ended cost of living adjustments, reduced the annual retirement income available, and raised insurance costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So where did the money go?\u00a0\u00a0The State Teacher Retirement System (STRS) took their $100 billion pension fund and invested some in private equity funds.\u00a0\u00a0They signed confidentiality contracts with them. No one knew what the money was invested in, how much profit it made, and how much the Fund fees cost.\u00a0\u00a0It amounted to almost $10 billion unaccounted for.\u00a0\u00a0In addition, STRS put another $10 billion into the more volatile commercial real estate market.\u00a0\u00a0Again, there was little transparency in how those funds were spent, or how much profit was made or money lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other 80% was managed in more public funds by the STRS professional staff themselves.\u00a0\u00a0They were paid at the \u201cgoing Wall Street rate\u201d of their counterparts in the private equity firms.\u00a0\u00a0Everybody involved was making \u201cgood\u201d, except for the teachers and the retirees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the private equity firms made substantial contributions to the Ohio politicians who controlled the board.\u00a0\u00a0Even the Ohio Education Association (OEA), the teachers\u2019 union, who dominated the elected board members, seemed to be in the \u201chand-out\u201d line.\u00a0\u00a0They weren\u2019t (probably) taking bribes. But they were dependent on politicians to deal with the rest of their education agenda.\u00a0\u00a0So not \u201crocking the boat\u201d at STRS became the OEA mantra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, teachers were required to work longer, for less retirement income.\u00a0\u00a0And retired teachers were forced to live on the same amount, year after year.\u00a0\u00a0I’m a retiree who depended on the \u201cdeal\u201d for thirty-five years of employment. I\u2019ve lost the over 25% of my spending power in the past decade.\u00a0There\u2019s been 4 \u00bd percent cost of living allowance, but inflation has reduced the value of a dollar by over 30%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both retirees and active teachers wanted change.\u00a0\u00a0Retired teachers organizations led the way to elect Board members to reform the system.\u00a0\u00a0They wanted to end private equity \u201cdeals\u201d, control real estate losses, and make the entire process both transparent and safer.\u00a0\u00a0Over time, and despite the fierce opposition of the OEA, and the Gannett Newspapers, the reformers gained a majority on the Board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the Board reached a reform majority, Governor Mike DeWine immediately tried to fire his own representative, Wade Steen (a reformer). He replaced him with a big campaign donor and private equity guy.\u00a0\u00a0DeWine violated the law when he removed Steen, but it took almost a year to get him reinstated on the Board.\u00a0\u00a0And when elected Reformers regained control of the majority, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost\u00a0\u00a0almost immediately filed to have two removed, using an \u201canonymous letter\u201d, written by (no surprise) the STRS staff as evidence claiming that the reformers were not \u201cmeeting their fiduciary responsibilities\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now it looks like Yost will lose in Court.\u00a0\u00a0So the state legislature\u2019s mostly inactive Ohio Retirement Study Council is jumping into action.\u00a0\u00a0After ignoring the losses at STRS for a decade, now the \u201cCouncil\u201d (made up of State legislators) has plans to change STRS governance.\u00a0\u00a0They want more financial \u201cexperts\u201d on the Board, appointed by –\u00a0\u00a0guess who –\u00a0\u00a0the State legislature and Governor.\u00a0\u00a0They want to out-vote the reform members, and keep them at bay.\u00a0\u00a0But what they really want is to keep the private equity money flowing to their campaign coffers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who wins if the Legislature changes the Board?\u00a0\u00a0The highly paid STRS staff, the private equity firms, and the politicians with their palms greased by private equity contributions.\u00a0\u00a0Who loses?\u00a0\u00a0Both the teachers now working, looking to retire, and those retirees left empty handed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, and the children of Ohio lose too.\u00a0\u00a0Because what new college graduate is going to want to work in the public schools, if they specifically know their retirement isn\u2019t secure?\u00a0\u00a0But, of course, that\u2019s OK with today\u2019s state legislature.\u00a0\u00a0They don\u2019t like public education anyway.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s lots of profit, and campaign donations, to be made in private education.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ohio, is really the corrupted heart of it all. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"