Lack of transparency usually is an element of bad governance, so it’s hardly surprising that the beleaguered Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System has made a habit of secrecy — to the point of trying to impose a gag order on board members and denying records requests from one of them.
According to attorney Terry Mutchler, a nationally recognized public records expert, PSERS likely is the first public pension plan in the United States ever to force one of its own board members to sue for access to pension plan records.
The agency faces a civil investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and a criminal investigation by the FBI. The agencies have subpoenaed records regarding PSERS’ adoption of a false figure for its financial performance (which it later corrected), whether PSERS staff accepted outside compensation or gifts from vendors, and the acquisition of real estate in downtown Harrisburg.
Democratic state Sen. Katie Muth of Montgomery County sued for access to records regarding the real estate purchases. She argued, logically, that she needed access to agency records to fulfill her fiduciary duty as a board member.
March 15, the state Commonwealth Court struck a blow for transparency when a judicial panel unanimously rejected all seven of PSERS’ preliminary objections to Muth’s record request. It ordered the agency to respond to the lawsuit within 30 days.
To their credit, Democratic former state Treasurer Joe Torsella and Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, both PSERS board members, supported Muth’s records request in a friend of the court petition.
PSERS is a $70 billion-plus pension plan for about 500,000 current and former public education employees. Due to egregious policy malpractice by the Legislature coupled with the agency’s own problems, 500 school districts must pay a staggering amount each year equivalent to 35% of their payrolls. School and state government contributions total about $5.1 billion a year.
The public has a huge stake in PSERS. Rather than spending more public money opposing transparency, the agency should enable board members who represent the public to do their jobs.
— The Citizens’ Voice, Wilkes-Barre (TNS)
