This past Jan. 8, David Bronner, CEO of The Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA) charged that the Alabama Education Association’s new boss, Henry Mabry, had designs in place to take over the TRS board that runs the Teacher’s pension plan. A separate board, the ERS, oversees the judicial and state employee pension plans.

The Mabry plan was pretty evident. His candidates for the TRS Board were challenging three long-standing members of the board, but they were only able to unseat one and Mabry failed in his effort to wrest control of that board from Bronner.

The war continues. The legislature this past session passed legislation that removed the position Mabry holds as AEA’s Executive Secretary from the board and added two representatives from the four-year college system.

Fast-forward to this month. In the latest edition of Bronner’s newsletter, The RSA Advisor, some Capitol wags call it the “Bronner PR Sheet,” the RSA chief, without calling Mabry by name, says the removal of “the current Executive Secretary of AEA from the RSA Board “was necessary to ensure that the teacher’s retirement system could continue to be run by a board that has the best interest of the TRS and its members as its top priority.”

Is Bronner alleging that the current head of the AEC doesn’t have the best interests of his members at heart? Seems so. In fact, he continues. “Never in my 40-year history with the RSA have I encountered a member of the TRS Board who has so consistently failed to place the interest of TRS members first.”

Bronner says the current Executive Secretary of AEA overstepped his legal authority with the TRS in too many ways to enumerate, but as examples, he directed the professional investment staff what individual stocks to buy and sell; he made himself unavailable or wrongfully refused to provide daily signatures so that TRS could transact its business and not default on Wall Street trades; he tried to substitute his judgment for that of the actuaries who determine how much is needed to keep TRS solvent; and he tried to force professional staff to take actions that were not in TRS’s best interests.

Bronner asserts that Mabry’s actions were unprofessional and unacceptable. The removal of the Executive Secretary of AEA from the TRS Board of Control was necessary for the financial well-being of its members and retirees.

At this writing Mabry hasn’t responded to Bronner’s tirade. Perhaps he will do so in his own publication, The AEA Journal.

There’s rarely a dull day in MonkeyTown.

The Hippocratic Oath

“I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.”

This is one of the first few paragraphs of the English versions of The Hippocratic Oath, one I assume our governor, Dr. Robert Bentley has taken. Of course, this doesn’t mean our governor has to follow this pledge in carrying his duties of office, but it should have some bearing on his conscience.

But how much harm is Dr. Bentley doing to the hundreds of thousands of poor people in Alabama by refusing to implement Obamacare? And how much is it going to cost in higher health insurance costs for the rest of us who will have to pick up the cost of those uninsured hundreds of thousands because our leaders are too stupid to take federal assistance to help them?

Hey, we already get federal farm aid, military aid, federal disaster relief, social security, federal tax credits, Medicare, Medicaid and funding from other numerous federal programs. Why can’t we take help that will benefit the poor sick people and save ourselves from having to pay for their care in other forms?

The answer is that while a majority of other states are implementing programs with federal funds to aid their poor and save their treasuries money, our political leaders are simply either just plain stupid, afraid to do the right thing or politically naive. Which are you, Dr. Bentley? And by the way, do you accept that free state employee health insurance?

Bob Martin is editor and publisher of The Montgomery Independent. Email him at: bob@montgomeryindependent.com