Friday, November 16, 2007

Give Me Something

Anything. According to my little widget PERS has been failing to comply with state law for 1599 days, 19 hours (for those who don't think that way, that has been since 7/1/03). While PERS would argue that they HAVE been following the law, the key elements of HB 2003 were overturned March 10, 2005 and specified that PERS members be restored to their position on 7/1/03. To date, that has never happened, and if PERS has its way, it never will. If I were you, I'd be angry, very angry. But being angry isn't enough. You have to be willing to do something about it. Electing the right candidates is one approach. Organizing a large constituency to petition Judge Kantor to hold PERS in contempt f Court would be another matter. Sitting on your hands is not, in my opinion, an option. The more inactive you are, the flatter you will be when the PERS steamroller runs over you. Use every lick of intellect you have. Fight back and get others to fight along side you. The PERS Coalition can't do all the heavy lifting. At some point personal responsibility comes into play. As we rapidly approach 1600 days of willful disobedience of the law, now is as good a tiime as any to start kicking ass and taking names. Better late than never.

14 comments:

kuhnsmith said...

Would it be possible for you to put a petition together on your site that we could sign on line? Something like the petitions that I get from other organizations. It seems like that would be a very easy way to organize active and retired PERS members who log onto you site. Otherwise, I'd have no idea how to petition my fellow PERsians.

TruthSeeker said...

Good idea Kuhnsmith.

mrfearless47 said...

A petition for....? I'll research how to do it. I haven't done a petition before online so I'm not sure there are tools available to link from a blog. But I'll investigate and see what I come up with.

mrfearless47 said...

I've found some software that will host a petition. I'll see what I can cobble together and get posted for tomorrow. One problem is that the post will get buried quickly unless I pull another trick like I did with the Document Library. Also, people will have to be more open about their identities since petitions have no validity if they aren't signed by real people. Most protect email addresses, but not all do. That's one of my criteria for selection.

mrf

kuhnsmith said...

Thanks for looking into this. I, for one, have no problem putting my name, e-mail address, or whatever on a petition. I do that now with various politically oriented petitions that I sign.

TruthSeeker said...

I have no problem with 'coming out" publicly with name, etc.

yosemitesam said...

As one who is on the verge of retirement, after having put it off, hoping for the best, this is a great idea. I have talked to my local legislators and have generally gotten the Cold Shoulder.
Thanks for all your help.

Jackie said...

I would like to participate. Gee, it's really dismaying to hear that a PERS employee gets a cold shoulder from his legislators. What did we do to deserve this?
Jackie

Jackie said...

I certainly will participate. Gee, it's dismaying to hear that a PERS retiree is getting a cold shoulder from our legislators. What did we do to deserve this?
Jackie

TruthSeeker said...

The only Oregon official who has ever even responded to my questions regarding PERS' piracy is Richard Devlin.

mrfearless47 said...

It is good to see all this public support for a petition. I'll do something after Thanksgiving. Right now is not the best time for a petition. The week after Thanksgiving will be an excellent time for posting a petition. I'm still mulling its contents, but I'm sure it will have something to do with Judge Kantor holding the PERS Board in contempt of Court for failing to obey the Oregon Supreme Court's finding in Strunk.

TruthSeeker said...

Sounds just right to me. Thanks Marc.

Unknown said...

Just found your blog. Got my recalc letter last week. More than a little upset to say the least.

I decided to punch out of state service because of the stress of being a budget manager for a state agency and not getting much joy in it. I also didn't like what I was seeing coming down the road from the Teddy and McPherson steamroller company. Talk about a guy who put the knife in the back of those who got him elected.

Nevertheless, I am proposing a very strong campaign against Mr Mcpherson in his run for AG. I am going to let the state Dems know that I will be campaigning against him in the primary and the general if he gets that far.

And my wife (an active member) and I will sign any petition that you'll come up with.

TruthSeeker said...

Are we just pissing in the wind Marc?