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Ohio Retired Teachers Association Sues Ohio STRS for Transparency
The group says the $80 billion pension fund refuses to turn over public documents it needs to conduct an audit.
The Ohio Retired Teachers Association (ORTA) is suing the $80 billion Ohio State Teachers Retirement System (Ohio STRS) to force it to turn over documents in an ongoing audit launched by the association. ORTA says Ohio STRS has not released public financial information required for the audit.
ORTA has raised $75,000 to contract pension audit expert and former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) attorney Edward “Ted” Siedle to conduct a forensic audit of Ohio STRS. In February, the law office of former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann submitted a public records request on behalf of Siedle to Ohio STRS requesting records related to the pension’s investment managers, investment consultants, performance compliance auditor, investment cost monitor, financial auditor, custodians, board, and staff.
Damschroder: Ohio teachers pension mauled by Panda
John Damschroder
The Ohio Retirement Study Council (ORSC) revived oversight theater, a suit and tie simulation of supervising the $200 billion state pensions. In the first act, ORSC started the process for fiduciary audits of the teachers and police and fire pensions a mere five years after their legal deadline.
Meanwhile, the New York State Common Retirement Fund showed the enormous power pensions wield, in a further embarrassment to Ohio. The New York pension forced FirstEnergy to disclose direct and indirect political spending along with lobbying expenses, twice a year, to keep the pension from putting the proposal to a shareholders vote. Thus, the company on the receiving end of a billion dollar Ohio Statehouse bailout the U.S. Department of Justice alleges passed with the help of $60 million in political bribes has reform imposed from New York rather than Ohio.