Thursday, January 19, 2012

We Take Care of our Own

That used to be the motto of the group known as OPRI - the only group in Oregon dedicated exclusively to the welfare of PERS retirees.  I and many others are lifetime members of this organization.  Now about 28,000 retirees are confronting the issue of repaying benefits once thought to have been legally received, but now apparently are subject to the aggressive collection actions of PERS.  Where is OPRI?  We've heard neither hide nor hair of this organization.  The organization has been turned over to the lobbyists Mark Nelson and David Reinhardt (yes, *that* David Reinhardt) and all communications for OPRI go through the lobbyists offices.  How does a member of OPRI communicate with OPRI *without* going through the lobbyists?  We just want OPRI to take some leadership in directing PERS to offer something besides to ludicrous options they given to repay overpayments.  We don't ask for much.  We just want OPRI to get off their collective asses and actually do something.  For all we know, they may be, but communications are exactly ZERO between the organization and its members.  Jay Osborne, the new OPRI president, doesn't seem to respond to email or to outright pings on the PERS Discussion Group.

If this is the organization that I have to put my faith in to represent my interests, God help me.  I want my money back.  I've gotten nothing for my lifetime membership except an organization that doesn't respond, hides under the cover of a lobbyist, and only acts when it appears that someone on the Board's interests might be at stake.  I miss the late Russ Gregory, a Board member of OPRI who died unexpectedly last month.  Russ was always free with information and we had some idea what was going on.  Now that Russ is deceased, OPRI has gone dark.  OPRI no longer appears to care or to take care of its own.

OPRI WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE.  YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED UNLESS YOU COME OUT OF HIDING AND TAKE SOME AGGRESSIVE ACTION TO PREVENT THIS LATEST PERS TRAVESTY FROM COMING TO PASS.  If you need legal money, why don't you ask for it.  We are all getting tired of waiting, and angry that nothing evident is being done.  Earth to OPRI.  Where are you?

 

7 comments:

Jay said...

Read your comments of January 19, 2012 with interest and some concerns.

I am sorry you feel we folks at OPRI are hard to contact. I thought we and especially I was easy to reach.

Not sure what might have happened with the emails you say you sent me. As best as I can tell, I never received them. As for ignoring the pings, I have not signed on to this blog for quite some time. I didn't ignore them, I simply never saw them,(whatever a ping is).

If you send me an email from a hotmail address, I won't get it. Unfortunately because of a raft of spam from hotmail, I found it necessary to block all emails from hotmail. I can put an exception to this rule in Outlook when appropriate.

Be sure you have my correct email address which is published on the OPRI.org website.

Hope to hear from you soon.

mrfearless47 said...

Jay. If you are going to belong to the PERS OREGON discussion group, which you do, you need to take the time and effort to read the messages. There are a lot of members pretty angry with OPRI right now. You get each message as an email. Do you bother to read them. PERS. is about to screw over window retirees again and we want additional options (see blog and discussion group for information about how) to repay PERS. The current options are financial rape and OPRI needs to insist on some alternative methods. No one is trying to cheat PERS. we just feel that PERS has other tools available that would expedite repayment but not cause individuals to pay more than they owe.

mrfearless47 said...

Jay. Your email is nowhere on the OPRI site. How do you expect people to contact you? All emails are filtered through pacounsel. I refuse to deal with those people. If OPRI wants MY support beyond my lifetime membership, it is going to have to make itself more available and NOT through the lobbyists office. I find it offensive that any mail I send is filtered by David Reinhard or Mark Nelson. If I want to email OPRI, I want to email OPRI, not PacCounsel. Many people feel the way I do. Make yourself accessible and you'll find you will get much more information.

Jay said...

Any email sent addressed to me using the current contact information on the OPRI website reaches me. Hope this helps.

Jay said...

As I have time, I will edeavor to catch up on the history here.

Just so you know, I have not at this time received any message emails from other bloggers here. Perhaps I originally set something up wrong when I joined the group.-Should be good to go now though.

Unknown said...

Just so you know, Jay. I am active at POD (PERS Oregon Discussion) the discussion group Marc set up on Yahoo. Using the information on the OPRI website, I have now sent 3-4 emails to the OPRI Board and I have never even gotten an automated email acknowledging receipt. I don't expect to become pen palls with the OPRI Board, but I don't know if any of my communication is getting through. I am a lifetime member of the group, contribute $50 each year to the lobby PAC and have encouraged others to join and contribute. But it has gotten to be more of an uphill slog when there is no observable communication that any of my input is heard, let along acted upon. Good to see you working to connect! If you really want to know what active PERS retirees are thinking (good, bad and occasionally ugly) drop by POD and read. I visit the site (and help moderate it) daily and it is a real eye-opener. Again, welcome!
peg

Jay said...

Thanks for the information about lack of response to your emails. Not sure when you sent them so it is hard to say what might have happened.

My hope is that I can fit checking in at the POD Yahoo group every day or so. I'll do my best.

I am considering options for email. My personal email account is well used since I am involved with several different groups. I wouldn't want folks sending email there only to have it get lost in the shuffle.

JO