[ OUR OPINION ]
Workers deserve
well-managed ERSALTHOUGH officials of the state Employees' Retirement System dispute at length critical conclusions of a legislative audit, they agreed that changes are required to manage operations more efficiently. Defending themselves is acceptable as long as they understand that the audit's objective isn't to fault them, but to assure that retirees receive their due and that funds are properly maintained.
THE ISSUE The auditor issues a harsh report on the state Employees' Retirement System.
ERS is a complex pension system charged with providing retirement, disability and survivor benefits to more than 96,000 government workers. Its officials transact business, invest funds and hold all its assets -- currently valued at about $7 billion -- as would a private corporation. The system's staff of about 125 processes applications and advises retirees, sets benefit levels and delivers administrative services to its board of trustees and other executives.
Trustees rely on outside experts for investment advice on the fund, which is what prompted the state Legislature to seek an audit. Lawmakers were concerned that ERS's board had retained investment manager 3Bridge Capital -- one of whose principals was a former ERS administrator -- despite its underperformance.
The audit said board members expressed a desire to "be fair" to the long-time manager. The board's fiduciary duty to retirees should have superseded its wish for fairness to 3Bridge.
The audit also found that officials mishandled upgrading of ERS's computer system, resulting in waste of more than $3.5 million and an exchange of lawsuits between ERS and its computer contractor. Until the legal dispute is resolved, the computer system will remain a liability that hinders timely calculation of benefits for retirees.
Estimated benefits retirees receive in the meantime do little to offer stable income, resulting in underpayments with no earned interest on the balance or overpayments they may have to refund later.
ERS officials contend that the state auditor's office doesn't have the expertise needed to evaluate the system nor does it understand ERS's operations. However, in complaining that the auditor "fails to provide the details and substance to make any improvements," ERS officials may, in turn, misunderstand the auditor's role. The office never provides specific solutions. It properly leaves corrective measures to the agency that holds the obligation.
ERS officials say they take their responsibilities seriously. Retirees and government employees will hold them to that.
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GOP must work hard
to lessen Lott damageREPUBLICANS will gain some immediate relief from Sen. Trent Lott's decision to step down as Senate majority leader, but they would be mistaken to believe that the damage has ended. The Lott episode has seriously hurt the GOP's standing on the issue of civil rights and has compromised the Bush administration's agenda. The party should extend its proclaimed "outreach" to minorities in substantive ways if it hopes to broaden its support.
THE ISSUE Sen. Trent Lott has stepped down as majority leader but will remain in the Senate.
Racial implications are sure to be applied to issues ranging from judicial nominees to tax cuts to welfare, and Republican candidates will be scrutinized about their campaign strategies. In the long run, the Lott episode could be beneficial for both civil rights and the party of Lincoln.
Lott has chosen to complete his four years left as senator from Mississippi, unlike past legislators after falling from leadership. Resignations have been the norm. Among the most recent have been House speakers Jim Wright, D-Tex., in 1989, Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., in 1998 and Bob Livingston, R-La., in 1999.
However, Lott's resignation would jeopardize GOP control of the Senate. An appointment of a successor by Mississippi's Democratic governor and a party switch by a moderate Republican -- Rhode Island's Sen. Lincoln Chafee is considered a prime candidate -- would put the Democrats in charge. Lott can be expected to perform penance on the Senate's back bench through the rest of his term.
Lott's many apologies were inadequate because his statement was explicit -- that the nation "wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years" if Sen. Strom Thurmond has been elected president in 1948. The message was clear, since Thurmond had bolted the Democratic National Convention that year to launch a segregationist Dixiecrat campaign. Lott's assertion that he was referring to "the problems of the defense and communism and budgets and governments sometimes that didn't do the job" lacked credibility.
The furor has become a factor in whether the Bush administration will submit a brief in a pending U.S. Supreme Court case challenging the affirmative action policy at the University of Michigan. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer has said Bush supports "affirmative access," a system by which the top 10 percent of students from Texas, with Bush as governor, were granted automatic entrance to the University of Texas. While the policy has resulted in greater minority enrollment, it falls short of the affirmative action present at other schools.
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Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
Frank Bridgewater, Editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
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Lucy Young-Oda, Assistant Editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.comMary Poole, Editorial Page Editor, 529-4748; mpoole@starbulletin.com
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