DISCUSSION: AREA "DEMOCRAT" EDUCATORS ANNOUNCE SUPPORT FOR SCHURING ON HANDLING OF STRS OVERSIGHT?

One should sit back and admire the "political spin" skills of state Senator J. Kirk Schuring (R), candidate for Congress (16th district versus Democrat John Boccieri).

Back in the summer of 2003, Schuring was on the hot seat with Ohio/Stark County teachers and teacher retirees when allegations of State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) of mismanagement surface.

How did Schuring get in the middle of this mess?

From his responsibility as a member of the Ohio Retirement Study Council even serving a stint as chair, that's how.

Paul Kostyu (fomerly of The Rep) in an August 20, 2003 piece set up the debate as follows:

A formal interpretation of state law says the Ohio Retirement Study Council has the power to look into the day-to-day operations of the state’s five pension funds.

That interpretation, by the Legislative Service Commission, runs counter to the position taken by Sen. Kirk Schuring, R-Jackson Township, and the council’s executive director, Aristotle Hutras. They maintain the council fulfills its oversight by annually reviewing legislation that affects the pension funds. They said the council does not have the power to delve into day-to-day operations.

Many of us, including yours truly, blamed Schuring for failing to spot and curb the abuses in the first place in his capacities on the Ohio Retirement Study Council.

But that's not the take of two Stark County teachers.

An excerpt from today's Letters to the Editor section of The Rep:

We are Democrats who will be voting for Kirk Schuring in November, hoping he will enter the U.S. House of Representatives this January. When in Washington, D.C., we know that he will still hear educators' voices, along with other Stark County citizens' voices, whether Democratic, Republican or independent.

SUSAN JACOBY, PLAIN TOWNSHIP

MARILYN GIBBS, LAKE TOWNSHIP

Question: Is Schuring a masterful political spin artist?